![Covid-19: olfactory rehabilitation to regain the sense of smell](https://img.passeportsante.net/1000x526/2020-11-06/i97429-.jpeg)
Loss of smell, called anosmia, is a new symptom of Covid-19. A symptom that can persist for several weeks after “clinical recovery”. The Nancy CHRU is carrying out a study based on olfactory rehabilitation, to allow patients to regain their sense of smell lost during contamination with the coronavirus.
Regain your sense of smell thanks to rehabilitation
The Nancy-Brabois CHRU has just launched a study on a new protocol for olfactory rehabilitation. The objective of this “olfactory rehabilitation” is to renew the “olfactory cells” which have been “suddenly” damaged by the infection. Led by Dr Duc Trung Nguyen, hospital practitioner in the ENT department, this rehabilitation would be based on 4 scents (lavender, strawberry, spruce, cut grass), associated with 4 basic scents (clove, eucalyptus, rose, lemon). “With four new fragrances, the aim is to speed up rehabilitation and also to see if it is more effective” explains Dr Nguyen. He explains that “olfactory rehabilitation is rarely practiced in France”. However, the loss of smell “concerns two thirds of people with Covid in Europe but only 4.8% in China. Maybe the question is not asked in China. Maybe the virus is not quite the same. Maybe it’s genetic between a Caucasian person and an Asian person, ”asks Dr. Nguyen.
How is this study going?
80 patients will benefit from this study, which will be based on a new kit developed by a laboratory in Saint-Malo (Ille-et-Vilaine). For 8 months, infected participants will have to breathe these odors, locked in tubes, ten seconds twice a day, with 30 second intervals between each tube. An examination in the meantime is scheduled by the doctor. To assess the severity of these symptoms, patients take a test where they must rate from 1 to 16 the scents they smell, most rating their scents as 1 or 2. Then comes a 2nd exercise where they are asked to categorize their scents. aromas in the 16 categories on offer, such as “orange, strawberry, blackberry, pineapple”, “cigarette, wine, coffee, smoke”, “bread, cheese, fish, ham”. Finally, the former patient is examined by Dr Nguyen, who checks whether this symptom really comes from Covid-19 by inserting a camera in the nose looking for a polyp or allergic rhinitis. In the long term, only time will tell if this symptom will return in its entirety.