The general procedure for the differential diagnosis of olfactory disturbances has been topics of some interest, but it is far from clear.
The present study was intended to measure the discriminative capacity of kinds of odors (DKO) of several persons, and to get the possible suggestion of affected sites in those with various kinds of olfactory disturbances.
Material:
This olfactory test was carried out with “T &T OIfactometer”, which consisted of 5 kinds of standard odors, such as β-phenyl ethyl alcohol, cyclopentenolone, isovaleric acid, γ-undecalactone and scatol, each in 10
n times diluted solution into Nujol, on persons without any olfactory disturbances and patients with different types of olfactory disturbances shown as follows: 1) Respiratory olfactory disturbances, 2) olfactory mucosa-olfactory disturbances, 3) olfactory disturbances caused by nasal and paranasal disease, and 4) intra cranial olfactory disturbances followed by intracranial disorders such as head injury, brain tumors or craniotomy.
Method:
First, the examined person was determined his detection threshold of each odor. One of odors which had more concentration by one step (10 times) than first examined was shown to the patient, and he was requested to find out the same odor among other 5 odors which contained the tested odor. This trial was performed on 5 odors, and correct answeres among the 5 odors were recorded by the score from O to 5.
Respiratory olfactory disturbance and olfactory mucosa-olfactory disturbance were induced experimentally in normal persons. In the former, a rubber thumbstall was inserted into common nasal meatus to obliterate olfactory rima, and in the latter, 2 mililiters of mucosa anesthetising agent was poured into nasal cavities.
Results:
In the group without olfactory disturbance, there were no errors in 5 odors by all persons, and no fall of DKO was observed in them.
In the group of olfactory disturbances induced experimentally (both respiratory and of olfactory mucosa), in case of moderate disturbance, fall of DKO was observed slightly, and in case of severe disturbance, fall of DKO was observed markedly.
In the group of olfactory disturbance caused by nasal and paranasal diseases, there observed slight fall of DKO with moderate disease, and marked fall in advanced conditions.
In the group of intracranial olfactory disturbance, marked decrease of DKO was observed independently of severity of the lesion.
In case within moderate olfactory disturbances, it might be concluded that DKO less than 2 suggested intracranial disturbance etiologically.
In case of advanced olfactory disturbances, however, such differential diagnosis cannot be drawn out by our present examination.
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