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73. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie (DGNC)
Joint Meeting mit der Griechischen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie (DGNC) e. V.

29.05. - 01.06.2022, Köln

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Does grey matter? Anosmia and dysgeusia related to COVID-19 – What about the olfactory cortex?

Anosmie und Dysgeusie im Zusammenhang mit COVID-19: Was passiert mit dem olfaktorischen Kortex?

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  • presenting/speaker Katharina Hense - Universitätsklinikum Regensburg, Klinik und Poliklinik für Neurochirurgie, Regensburg, Deutschland
  • Daniel Deuter - Universitätsklinikum Regensburg, Klinik und Poliklinik für Neurochirurgie, Regensburg, Deutschland
  • Johanna Vollmayr - Universitätsklinikum Regensburg, Klinik und Poliklinik für Neurochirurgie, Regensburg, Deutschland
  • Sebastian Schachinger - Universitätsklinikum Regensburg, Klinik und Poliklinik für Neurochirurgie, Regensburg, Deutschland
  • Nils-Ole Schmidt - Universitätsklinikum Regensburg, Klinik und Poliklinik für Neurochirurgie, Regensburg, Deutschland
  • Katharina Rosengarth - Universitätsklinikum Regensburg, Klinik und Poliklinik für Neurochirurgie, Regensburg, Deutschland

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. 73. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie (DGNC), Joint Meeting mit der Griechischen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. Köln, 29.05.-01.06.2022. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2022. DocP218

doi: 10.3205/22dgnc534, urn:nbn:de:0183-22dgnc5341

Published: May 25, 2022

© 2022 Hense 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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Objective: Anosmia and dysgeusia are discussed as specific symptoms with respect to COVID-19. As preceding studies found alterations in the olfactory bulbus in MRI analyses in patients with anosmia, the aim of our study was to analyse cortical neuroplastic alterations in the olfactory system in patients with acute and recovered SARS-CoV-2 infection with and without anosmia / dysgeusia.

Methods: 50 patients were included in our prospective study. 16 patients with acute SARS-CoV-2 infection, 21 recovered patients and 13 healthy controls were investigated using MRI scans derived from a 3T or 1.5T MRI scanner (SIEMENS Skyra/ Aera, Erlangen, Germany). Grey matter was segmented using the CAT12-Toolbox implemented in SPM12. Additonally, grey matter was labeled using the AAL3v1 atlas. Volumes of all regions of interest included in the atlas were exported and analyzed.

Results: 15 patients subjectively reported anosmia, 13 patients dysgeusia. In patients with anosmia, no significant alterations could be found in the olfactory cortex. Both groups had significant differences in the insular cortex compared to healthy controls with non-significantly higher volumes in patients with anosmia. Also, in patients with dysgeusia, no significant differences could be found. Both groups had significant differences in the inferior frontal gyrus compared with healthy controls with non-significantly higher volumes in patients with dysgeusia.

Conclusion: Anosmic alterations in patients with COVID-19 seem to be connected to alterations in the olfactory bulbus as shown in preceding studies. Regarding grey matter volume, neither significant decreasing nor compensatory increasing neuroplastic changes could be found in the olfactory cortex in our cohort.