Article
Rehabilitation of olfaction after laryngectomy
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Authors
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Boris Haxel
- Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Mainz, Germany
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Christian Fuchs
- Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Mainz, Germany
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Burkard Lippert
- Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Heilbronn, Germany
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Wolf Mann
- Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Mainz, Germany
| Published: | July 22, 2009 |
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Outline
Text
Introduction: In laryngectomees, voice- and pulmonary rehabilitation is already established. Loss of olfaction means an additional loss of quality of life for these patients. Therefore the Nasal Airflow Inducing Maneuver (NAIM) has been developed in the year 2003 to enable the patients to regain a nasal airflow. So far the success of this olfactory rehabilitation method has only been tested in simple (mostly identification) smell test. The aim of this study was to verify the efficacy of this maneuver in a standardized smell test.
Methods: In 25 patients after laryngectomy, the sense of smell was tested with the Sniffin´ Sticks Test before and after learning the NAIM. Here the individual level of threshold, discrimination and identification could be determined. Thus the individual SDI-score was used to classify the patients as being anosmic, hyposmic or normosmic.
Results: There was a significant increase in the three sub scores and the total SDI-score before and after the learning of the NAIM. Patients gained 7 points on average in the SDI-score. 20 of 25 patients showed an increase of five or more point in the SDI-score. In the classification of the smell ability, 15 of 25 patients changed from anosmic or hyposmic to hyposmic resp. normosmic.
Conclusion: The Nasal Airflow Inducing Maneuver is an easily learned procedure the rehabilitation of the sense of smell in laryngectomees. The evaluation with the Sniffin´ Sticks Tests showed a clinically relevant increase of olfaction in 80%. The teaching of the NAIM should be included in post-laryngectomy rehabilitation programs.
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