Sense of smell examination before and after surgery for nasal polyposis

Aim: To verify improvement of olfactory function in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps and concurrent sense of smell deterioration after functional endoscopic sinus surgery. Materials and methods: This study included patients who underwent functional endoscopic sinus surgery, either pansinus surgery, supraturbinal antrostomy (STA) and anterior ethmoidectomy or limited STA in a study period from 2013 to 2016. Sniffin Sticks test was applied to study the sense of smell before surgery and during follow up 3, 6 and 12 months after surgery. Results: Cohort consisted of 257 patients. Altogether, pansinus surgery was performed in 181 cases, STA and anterior ethmoidectomy in 49 cases and only limited STA in 27 cases. The sense of smell was improved one year after the surgery, when we assume a stabilized and final state, as follows: in the first group it was 59.6%, in the second it was 55.1% and in the third it was 29.6% of patients. Conclusions: In our cohort, the best results were observed in cases of primary pansinus surgery in patients who suffered preoperative anosmia. The improvement of sense of smell, in some cases even normalization of sense of smell, improved the quality of life of patients including even their safety.