Post‐traumatic Olfactory Dysfunction
- 1 December 2000
- journal article
- case report
- Published by Wiley in The Laryngoscope
- Vol. 110 (12), 2106-2109
- https://doi.org/10.1097/00005537-200012000-00025
Abstract
This study demonstrates histopathologic and immunocytochemical changes in the olfactory bulb of a patient with post-traumatic olfactory dysfunction. These results are analyzed in light of current understanding of the pathophysiology of anosmia and dysosmia following head trauma. Emphasis is placed on potential mechanisms of human regeneration and recovery. The current study documents the history of a patient with the initial complaint of complete anosmia following minor head trauma. Two months after the injury the patient developed persistent, severe dysosmia with debilitating weight loss. Neurosurgical treatment, including removal of the olfactory bulbs and tracts, resulted in permanent resolution of dysosmia. Histopathologic and immunocytochemical analysis of the olfactory bulbs was undertaken and compared with age-matched control tissue. Pathological analysis of the olfactory bulb revealed a marked reduction in the number of nerve processes with few intact olfactory glomeruli compared with an age-matched control. Specific immunohistochemical staining for the olfactory neuron-specific protein OMP, however, demonstrated the presence of intact axonal projections between the olfactory mucosa and the bulb. These results support the hypothesis that post-traumatic anosmia involves, at least in part, damage to peripheral olfactory nerve fibers with histological changes in the olfactory bulb. Potential mechanisms for the development of post-traumatic dysosmia are also discussed.Keywords
This publication has 10 references indexed in Scilit:
- Comparison of behavioral responses to noxious cold and heat in miceBrain Research, 1999
- Olfactory Dysfunction in Patients With Head TraumaArchives of Neurology, 1997
- Electrophysiological characterization of the olfactory bulb during recovery from sensory deafferentationBrain Research, 1996
- Information coding in the olfactory system: Evidence for a stereotyped and highly organized epitope map in the olfactory bulbCell, 1994
- Preservation of olfaction in anterior craniofacial approachesJournal of Neurosurgery, 1993
- A novel multigene family may encode odorant receptors: A molecular basis for odor recognitionCell, 1991
- Paroxysmal unilateral dysosmia: A cured patientAnnals of Neurology, 1988
- Electron Microscopy of Olfactory Epithelia in Two Patients With AnosmiaJAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, 1985
- A Brain Protein Unique to the Olfactory BulbProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 1972
- Regeneration of Olfactory Cells.Experimental Biology and Medicine, 1941