Abstract
We retrospectively analyzed the postoperative olfactory changes in 109 adult patients with olfactory disorder due to chronic rhinosinusitis who underwent endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) between 2007 and 2013. There were 60 men and 49 women. Median age was 50 years (20–79). Median follow-up period after ESS was 12 months (3–79). Olfaction was evaluated using T&T olfactometry and intravenous olfaction test. In the longitudinal data analysis, the proportion with improvement was 66% (40/66) within 6 months, but this decreased as time passed after surgery. The postoperative course of olfactory acuity could be classified into four courses: sustained improvement (50%, n=29); gradual improvement (7%, n=4); deterioration (14%, n=8); and no change (29%, n=17). On average, the mean T&T recognition threshold significantly improved from 4.9±1.4 before ESS to
3.9±1.7 after it (n=109, p<0.0001), and the proportion with improvement was 52% (57/109) in total. The mean T&T recognition threshold (2.6±1.3, n=57) in the improvement group was significantly better than in the
unchanged group (5.2±0.9, n=52, p<0.0001). The positive rates of preoperative intravenous olfaction test showed a significant difference between the improvement group (95%) and the unchanged group (79%, p=0.020).
