Medical Treatment of Traumatic Anosmia

Abstract

Objectives: Study the effects of zinc and steroid in the treatment of traumatic anosmia. Methods: Patients with a clear history of complete loss of smell after head injury were collected from January 2010 to May 2013. All patients received phenyl ethyl alcohol threshold test, and those whose thresholds were –1 were included in this study. They were randomly divided into 4 groups. Patients in group 1 were treated with zinc sulfate (15mg tid) for a month and high dose prednisolone (1 mg/kg per day) with tapering for 2 weeks. Those in group 2 only took zinc, and those in group 3 only took prednisolone. Patients in group 4 did not take any medicine. All patients were followed up by phenyl ethyl alcohol threshold test to find whether their olfactory function improved and had magnetic resonance imaging to measure the volume of olfactory bulbs. Results: There were 145 patients completing the study. Thirty-nine belonged to group 1, 34 to group 2, 35 to group 3, and 37 to group 4. Olfactory function improved in 11 patients (28.2%) who took prednisolone and zinc, in 9 (25.7%) who took zinc, in 4 (11.8%) who took prednisolone, and in 1 (2.7%) who did not take any medicine. The olfactory improvement rates of groups 1 and 2 are significantly higher than that of group 4. The volume of olfactory bulbs is not significantly different between those with and without improved olfactory function. Conclusions: Our results show that zinc has good effect in treating traumatic anosmia.