Olfaction and Inflammation in Chronic Rhinosinusitis With Nasal Polyps

Impaired olfaction is one of the major complaints of patients with nasosinus polyposis, with nasal obstruction. In case of failure of medical treatment for patients with polyposis nasosinusal, they may use endoscopic surgery nasosinusal. Before surgery, 73% are hyposmic or anosmic, compared to 43% after surgery. Persistence of hyposmia or anosmia despite the removal of polyps can be explained by mechanisms inflammatory in the mucous membrane of the olfactory cleft. In addition, studies in mice have shown a degeneration of primary olfactory neurons at the level of the olfactory mucosa in connection with directly with TNF alpha, a pro-inflammatory molecule.