Assessment of olfactory level in acute sinusitis

Olfaction reduction is one of the main symptoms of acute sinusitis. Due to this, the development and implementation of new technologies for the detection of olfactory disturbances in routine clinical practice is relevant in terms of improving the diagnosis and evaluation of acute sinusitis treatment effectiveness. Objective. To study the olfactory level in patients with acute sinusitis. Patients and methods. A number of patients equal 67 with acute sinusitis aged 18—70 years was examined: 35 (52.2%) women and 32 (47.8%) men. An endoscopic examination of the olfactory recess was performed to analyze the mechanism of hyposmia. The Russian version of the Sniffin’ Sticks test was used to assess the olfactory thresholds. Results and discussion. It has been revealed during the study that hyposomia is a frequent symptom of acute sinusitis (83.6%). In 52.2% of cases, conductive hyposmia has been determined in patients, neurosensory — in 31.3% of subjects. Olfaction was reduced more in men than in women. However, these data were not statistically significant. The degree of hyposmia was significantly higher in patients with inflammatory changes of the mucosa in the area of the olfactory recess (5.5 versus 6.4), which may correlate with the severity of acute sinusitis. Conclusion. The olfactory level determination in patients with acute sinusitis is an important diagnostic criterion that allows to assess the severity of sinusitis and to choose effective treatment tactics. The Russian version of the Sniffin’ Sticks test is a simple and standardized method that can be used in the clinical practice of otorinolaryngologists.