Association between Objective and Subjective Olfactory Dysfunction in SARS-CoV-2-Positive Patients Undergoing Skull...

Area of Science:

• Otolaryngology
• Neurology
• Infectious Diseases

Background:

• Olfactory dysfunction is a known symptom of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection.
• Endoscopic endonasal skull base surgery (EESBS) can impact olfactory function.
• The interplay between SARS-CoV-2 and olfactory outcomes after EESBS requires investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between objective and subjective olfactory assessments in patients with recent SARS-CoV-2 infection undergoing EESBS.
• To compare olfactory dysfunction rates between SARS-CoV-2-positive and SARS-CoV-2-negative patients undergoing EESBS.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective cohort study including adult patients who underwent EESBS for sellar/parasellar lesion resection.
• Collected pre- and postoperative self-reported olfactory dysfunction and University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT) scores.
• Compared outcomes between patients with and without recent SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Main Results:

• Patients with recent SARS-CoV-2 infection showed similar rates of preoperative olfactory assessment discrepancies compared to controls.
• SARS-CoV-2-positive patients were twice as likely to report postoperative subjective olfactory dysfunction (46.2% vs 18.1%).
• No significant differences in mean preoperative or postoperative UPSIT scores were observed between groups.

Conclusions:

• Recent SARS-CoV-2 infection may increase the likelihood of self-reported olfactory dysfunction after EESBS.
• This subjective olfactory dysfunction post-SARS-CoV-2 was not correlated with objective psychophysical testing results.
• SARS-CoV-2 infection might uniquely influence subjective olfactory recovery following skull base surgery.