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Olfaction and Head Injury

  • Chapter
Science of Olfaction

Abstract

An estimated 500,000 Americans each year suffer from head injuries. These individuals develop a variety of medical problems resulting from injuries to the brain and often require extensive treatment and rehabilitation. One of the many well-documented problems in head injury is anosmia, or the loss of smell sensations. This loss can involve a complete anosmia or a partial loss of or disturbance in olfactory function. Although the loss of olfactory function is often overshadowed by life-threatening issues at the time of injury, it can become more important during the recovery and rehabilitation period. A number of different mechanisms that can lead to posttraumatic anosmia have been identified. The type and severity of the injury is an important factor in predicting the nature and extent of the olfactory loss. Patients with posttraumatic anosmia are often unaware of their olfactory loss. They sometimes report a loss of “taste” sensation. However, this is usually due to their inability to sense the “flavor” or aromas of food. The recent development of clinical olfactory function tests has proven useful in providing quantitative assessments of sensory losses in head injury patients. These tests have also been of some help in localizing lesions to olfactory regions of the brain. Such tests should prove helpful in studying the impact of olfactory loss on long-term outcome and rehabilitation of the head-injured patient.

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Authors
  1. Richard M. Costanzo
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  2. John D. Ward
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  3. Harold F. Young
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, The Mount Sinai Medical Center, One Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1230, New York, New York, 10029, USA

    Michael J. Serby MD

  2. Department of Neurology, New York University Medical Center, New York, New York, 10016, USA

    Karen L. Chobor MS

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© 1992 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

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Costanzo, R.M., Ward, J.D., Young, H.F. (1992). Olfaction and Head Injury. In: Serby, M.J., Chobor, K.L. (eds) Science of Olfaction. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2836-3_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2836-3_20

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-7690-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-2836-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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