Doctors Find Brain Changes In COVID-19 Smelling Patient

2023 Author: Abraham Higgins | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 23:16

Doctors Find Brain Changes in COVID-19 Smelling Patient

Doctors examined a 27-patient patient whose sense of smell was the only symptom of infection. Edema of the olfactory bulb, which was detected by MRI, disappeared after recovery

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Loss of smell (anosmia) and taste (dysgeusia) are considered characteristic symptoms of COVID-19. To date, scientists have not yet discovered what causes these phenomena during infection: damage at the level of the epithelium of the nose, olfactory nerves or the corresponding structures of the brain.

Earlier in a study in mice, scientists discovered which cells of the olfactory epithelium can infect the coronavirus. At the same time, magnetic resonance imaging performed on a patient with COVID-19 showed no change in one study.

Scientists have identified two forms of loss of smell in COVID-19

In a new study, scientists have confirmed that anosmia is an important symptom of COVID-19 in mild to moderate disease. At the same time, the authors did not objectively find loss of smell in one third of patients.

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In the journal Neurology, doctors described the changes they found on an MRI scan in a COVID-19 patient, a 27-year-old doctor. He developed anosmia on the fourth day of illness with no other symptoms. In the pictures, scientists have identified swelling of the olfactory bulbs and the olfactory tract - the parts of the brain that are involved in distinguishing between smells.

The patient's sense of smell returned on the 14th day, on the same day, the results of his PCR tests for coronavirus became negative. During the second MRI, on the 24th day of illness, the images were normal, the edema was gone.

This case report showed that there is a possibility that at least isolated cases of loss of smell in COVID-19 may be associated with disorders in the areas of the brain that are responsible for the sense of smell.