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Anosmia after general anaesthesia: a case report
I Konstantinidis1, E Tsakiropoulou, I Iakovou
1Academic Otorhinolaryngology Department, Papageorgiou Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece.
General anaesthesia may cause anosmia (loss of smell). A patient experienced smell loss after surgery, showing no brain abnormalities but improved with olfactory retraining, suggesting anaesthetics
Area of Science:
- Anesthesiology
- Neurology
- Otolaryngology
Background:
- Anesthetic drugs are known etiological factors for anosmia.
- However, limited reports document anosmia induced by general anesthesia.
Observation:
- A 60-year-old female patient reported altered smell and taste post-urological surgery under general anesthesia (fentanyl, propofol, sevoflurane).
- Clinical and CT brain scans revealed no pathology.
- Psychophysical testing confirmed anosmia with normal taste function.
Findings:
- Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) showed normal baseline brain activity.
- SPECT after odor stimulation (phenyl ethyl alcohol) revealed no brain reaction, suggesting peripheral olfactory dysfunction or transmission issues.
- The patient significantly improved after four months of olfactory retraining.
Implications:
- The temporal relationship between anesthesia and dysfunction, coupled with imaging findings, suggests anesthetics may induce olfactory dysfunction.
- This case highlights a potential, albeit rare, side effect of general anesthesia on olfactory pathways.
- Olfactory retraining may be a viable treatment for anesthesia-induced anosmia.
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