Qualitaty of Olfaction in Patients with Nasal and Sinuses Polyposis before and after Endo-scopic Sinus Surgery in, Vali e Asr Hospital in 2017

Background: Olfaction plays an important role in human life and promotes quality of life through understanding various odors. Nasal polyps are among the common causes of olfactory impairment. There are many different treatment options for polyps most notably the diagnosis and elimination of underlying causes. Some polyps do not respond to medication therapy or they relapse, and therefore require surgery. The present study aimed to determine olfactory function in patients with sinus and nasal polyposis before and after endoscopy. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, patients admitted to, Vali e Asr Hospital of Birjand in 2015 for endoscopic nasal polypectomy were included. Evaluation of olfactory quality was performed prior to and four weeks after the surgery. Olfactory function was evaluated by a semi-structured questionnaire on the quality of olfactory, taste and appetite combined with the Quick Odor Detection test. Data was analyzed in SPSS 23 software using descriptive statistics of frequency, perentage, mean and standard deviation, and analytical statistics of McNemar’s and Wilcoxon tests. P value of <0.05 was considered significant. Results: Thirty-six patients were enrolled. All patients underwent endoscopic polypectomy. Their mean age was 39.14±11.69 years. Most of them were male (n=21, 58.3%). History of nasal polyps, asthma, allergic rhinitis and aspirin sensitivity was positive in 27.8%, 11.1%, 47.2% and 27.8% of patients. Nasal polyps were unilateral in 58.3% of patients and bilateral in 41.7% of patients. There was a significant improvement in olfactory quality after surgery (p<0.001). The sense of smell was present in 75% or the patients before and in 100% of them after the surgery, and the difference was statistically significant (p=0.004). Conclusion: Olfactory dysfunction in patients with polyps is remarkably prevalent. Overall, the results of this study show polypectomy significantly improved patients’ sense and quality of smell.