A preliminary study of neuroSPECT evaluation of patients with post-traumatic smell impairment

Fourteen patients with post-traumatic impaired smell and ten healthy controls were entered in this prospective study. All subjects underwent brain SPECT after intravenous injection of 740-MBq 99mTc-ECD and 48 hours later, the same procedure was repeated following olfactory stimulus (vanilla powder).In most of seven regions of interest (Orbital Frontal Cortex, Inferior Frontal Pole, Superior Frontal Pole, Posterior Superior Frontal Lobe, Parasagittal Area, Occipital Pole, and Cerebellar area) the post-stimulation quantitative values show increased cortical perfusion being more pronounced in normal volunteers than the anosmic patients (except cerebellar areas and the right occipital pole). Maximal activation was observed in orbitofrontal regions (right+ 25.45% and left +25.47%).Brain SPECT is a valuable imaging technique in the assessment of post-traumatic anosmia and could be competitive as an alternative to other imaging techniques, especially when functional MRI is unavailable or unsuitable. However, this procedure may benefit from complementary MRI or CT anatomical imaging.Although olfaction is the primal sense in animals, it has also an important role in the human life. Loss of this unique sensation could be extremely unpleasant and can be associated with deterioration of communicational functions of patients [1,2]. In fact, disorders of the sense of smell can be frustrating for both the patient and physician [3]. Quality of life studies have shown a general decrease in the level of satisfaction with life among those patients with continuing olfactory impairment[4]. Consequently, there is a growing interest into the investigation of smell disorders in both research and clinical practice and lots of efforts is being made to provide a noninvasive tool to elucidate the underlying pathology.The ability to accurately measure loss of olfactory function is important not only for research purposes, but also to follow progression of the disease and for appropriate managem