Sense of smell often impaired after larynx removal

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who undergo total removal of the larynx, most often because of cancer, frequently find their sense of smell is diminished, according to an evaluation of 36 patients who underwent the procedure 6 months to 25 years earlier.

Dr. John W. Werning and colleagues from the University of Florida, Gainesville, measured the patients' olfactory function and compared it to their subjective assessment of taste and smell.

Objective olfactory abilities after laryngectomy were significantly decreased compared with a comparison group of healthy individuals matched for age, sex, and smoking history, the investigators report in the Archives of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

The average self-rated score of smell ability in the total laryngectomy group was less than half that in the comparison group, whereas the self-rating of taste ability was only slightly lower.

The team thinks the problem is unlikely to be related to damage caused by the surgery "since 5 of 36 subjects in the total laryngectomy group achieved scores within the normal range" for smell performance. Rather, it may have to do with airflow and how smells are brought to receptors in the nose.

"Speech pathologists have developed a 'nasal airflow-inducing maneuver' that can be taught to patients after laryngectomy," the researchers explain. "Regular use of the nasal airflow-inducing maneuver has been shown to improve both subjective and objective measures of olfactory function."

SOURCE: Archives of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, January 2007.