Post-Traumatic Anosmia

A study was made on patients with traumatic olfactory disturbance who had been seen at the Department of Otorhino-laryngology of this hospital in the past 15 years. As a result, findings as presented below were obtained.1) Of 4, 340 cases of the sequelae of head and face injuries, 152 cases (3.5%) showed the olfactory disturbance.2) The severity of the olfactory disturbance were anosmia in 121 cases (79.6%) and hyposmia in 31 cases (20.4%).3) The olfactory disturbance was mainly observed in males whose age ranged 30 to 50 years old.4) The most frequent site of trauma was the occipital region followed by the facial region and frontal region. The olfactory disturbance occurred often after contusion in the posteroanterior direction of the head.5) As for the olfactory disturbance after contusion in the facial region, there were few cases of anosmia.6) As a result of a follow-up investigation, improvement was noted in 8 (14%) out of 56 cases. The improvement was observed from 6 months to 7 years after the treatment. Six out of the 56 cases showed aggravation.7) The fragmentation of olfactory nerve fiber appeared to be the most frequent cause of the olfactory disturbance after head contusion.Many cases of the respiratory olfactory disturbance were supposed to be included in the cases of the olfactory disturbance after facial contusion.