Olfactory Loss in Rhinosinusitis: Mechanisms of Loss and Recovery

Agnès Dekeyser; Caroline Huart; Thomas Hummel; Valérie Hox

doi:10.3390/ijms25084460

Olfactory Loss in Rhinosinusitis: Mechanisms of Loss and Recovery

Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Apr 18;25(8):4460. doi: 10.3390/ijms25084460.

Authors

Agnès Dekeyser¹, Caroline Huart^{1

2}, Thomas Hummel³, Valérie Hox^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Pneumology, ENT (Airways) and Dermatology (Skin) (LUNS), Institute of Experimental and Clinical Research (IREC), UCLouvain, 1200 Brussels, Belgium.
² Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, 1200 Brussels, Belgium.
³ Smell and Taste Clinic, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, TU Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany.

Abstract

Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a highly prevalent disease and up to 83% of CRS patients suffer from olfactory dysfunction (OD). Because OD is specifically seen in those CRS patients that present with a type 2 eosinophilic inflammation, it is believed that type 2 inflammatory mediators at the level of the olfactory epithelium are involved in the development of this olfactory loss. However, due to the difficulties in obtaining tissue from the olfactory epithelium, little is known about the true mechanisms of inflammatory OD. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, interest in olfaction has been growing rapidly and several studies have been focusing on disease mechanisms of OD in inflammatory conditions. In this paper, we summarize the most recent data exploring the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying OD in CRS. We also review what is known about the potential capacity of olfactory recovery of the currently available treatments in those patients.

Keywords: chronic rhinosinusitis; olfaction; olfactory dysfunction.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Chronic Disease
Humans
Olfaction Disorders* / etiology
Olfaction Disorders* / physiopathology
Olfactory Mucosa / metabolism
Olfactory Mucosa / pathology
Rhinosinusitis* / complications
Smell

Grants and funding

This work was funded by the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique F.R.S-FNRS; AD is funded by a FRIA mandate (grant number FC 49797), VH is funded by a clinical post-doctoral SPD FNRS mandate (grant number 1R20221F). TH received funding from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (grant number DFG HU441/27-1).