Test the Sense of Smell in TBI Patients

Much attention has been paid to visual abnormalities after traumatic brain injury (TBI), but injury to the first cranial nerve (the olfactory nerve) has been relatively ignored, even though its location makes it exceedingly vulnerable. This prospective study involved 231 military personnel who suffered polytrauma from acute blast injury and required immediate evacuation and admission to a tertiary care center.

There were 176 case patients with TBI and 55 controls without TBI. Moderate/severe TBI (n=40) was defined by the presence of abnormal neuroimaging, not by standard assessments (duration of loss of consciousness, Glasgow Coma Scale score). Thus, the moderate TBI category included participants with “mild TBI” plus abnormal imaging. All p…