Olfaction disorders: retrospective study.

Introduction: The smell, subjective phenomenon of great importance, is poorly understood and studied in humans. Physicians with more knowledge about smell disorders tend to consider the phenomenon important and to better manage the diagnosis and its treatment.

Aims: First to describe a sample of patients presenting with main complaint of disturbances of smell. And second, to show our experience on management and treatment of this disease.

Design: Retrospective cross-sectional cohort study.

Materials And Methods: Sample description and assessment of treatment response in patients with main complaint of hyposmia or anosmia from January 2005 to October 2011.

Results: From 38 patients presented with main complaint of an olfactory disorder, 68.4% of the patients were presented with hyposmia and 31,5% with anosmia, with a mean duration of 30.8 months. The main etiologic diagnoses were idiopathic (31.5%), rhinitis (28.9%) and CRS with polyps (10.5%). Responses to treatment with topical steroids and alpha-lipoic acid were variable, as well as in the literature.

Conclusion: Greater importance should be given to disorders of smell in practice of otolaryngologists, since its large differential diagnosis and the fact that could increase morbidity to patients, impacting on their quality of life.