Recovery of Olfaction After Sinus Surgery for Chronic Rhinosinusitis: A Review

Objective: Investigation of the postoperative olfactory function after sinus surgery for chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) with and without polyps in a review.

Data Sources: PubMed.

Review Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted through June 2018 using relevant keywords. The titles/abstracts were reviewed to identify studies evaluating the sense of smell in CRS-patients pre- and postoperatively by either using the whole or parts of the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test or the Sniffin' Sticks test. Study characteristics and outcome data of the included studies were extracted.

Results: In total, 106 studies were retrieved. Twenty-four studies comprising 1,956 patients were included after quality assessment. The number of patients investigated per study was 19 to 206. In the 24 studies, 959 patients with nasal polyps and 516 without nasal polyps were described. The follow-up times varied between 0.5 and 28 months. Twenty-three studies reported an improved sense of smell, at least in certain subgroups. An overall improvement was seen in approximately 50% of the included patients. Nasal polyposis and preoperative anosmia were associated with a higher chance of improvement in olfaction. In those studies that commented on deterioration after sinus surgery, a decrease in olfaction was found in a range from 0% to 10% of cases.

Conclusion: Olfaction can be improved by sinus surgery in about every second patient, especially if the patient had chronic rhinosinusitis with polyps, was anosmic, and had no prior surgery. A deterioration of sense of smell after surgery is rare. Laryngoscope, 129:1053-1059, 2019.