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87th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

04.05. - 07.05.2016, Düsseldorf

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Olfactory training in patients with olfactory loss: Increased responsiveness at the level oft he olfactory epithelium as indicated by electro-olfactograms

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  • corresponding author presenting/speaker Thomas Hummel - Smell & Taste Clinic, Dept. of ORL, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
  • author Georg Stupka - Smell & Taste Clinic, Dept. of ORL, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany

German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. 87th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. Düsseldorf, 04.-07.05.2016. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2016. Doc16hno28

doi: 10.3205/16hno28, urn:nbn:de:0183-16hno282

Published: September 7, 2016

© 2016 Hummel et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. See license information at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Outline

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Introduction: Olfactory training has been shown to increase olfactory function in patients with olfactory loss. The present investigation aimed to study the question whether a change in olfactory function over time would be accompanied by a change in responsiveness of the olfactory epithelium as indicated by recordings of the electro-olfactogram (EOG), the summated generator potential of olfactory receptor neurons.

Methods: A total of 23 patients participated in two sessions, before and 4–6 months of olfactory training. During the “training” period patients were asked to sniff 4 odors every morning and evening. Olfactory function was assessed on both occasions using the Snffin‘ Sticks. EOG recordings were obtained under endoscopical control using tubular Ag-Ag-Cl-electrodes in response to stimulation with H2S and phenylethylalcohol (stimulus duration 1 s, interval > 1 min; olfactometer OM6b, Burghart, Germany). Trgeminal CO2-stimuli were used for control.

Results: Significant improvement of olfactory function was found in 8 or 23 patients. An increase in the number of EOG recordings was found not only in patients exhibiting an increase olfactory function as established by means of psychophysical tools, but across the entire group performing olfactory training. In contrast, responses to trigeminal stimuli did not change.

Conclusions: Systematic olfactory training improves olfactory function in approximately 1/3 of the patients over a period of 4–6 months. Olfactory training is associated with an increased responsiveness of the human olfactory epithelium to specific olfactory stimuli.

Support: DFG HU 441/18-1