Objectives. Postinfectious olfactory dysfunction (PIOD) is the most common etiology of olfactory dysfunction, and olfactory training (OT) is an accepted treatment modality for PIOD. Some studies have investigated OT in Korean patients, but they involved odorants unfamiliar to Koreans or had no control group. The aim of this study was to verify the efficacy of OT in PIOD patients, using odorants familiar to Koreans and including a control group. Methods. We enrolled a total of 104 Korean patients with PIOD over the 3-year study period. All participants were assessed using endoscopy and an olfactory function test at the baseline assessment and 3 months after OT. The olfactory function test was performed using the Korean version of Sniffin' stick (KVSS) II. Nasal and psychological function was evaluated using a visual analog scale and the Mini-Mental State Examination. OT was performed over a period of 3 months, using five odorants (rose, lemon, cinnamon, orange, and peach). Results. OT improved olfactory function in approximately 40% of subjects over a period of 12 weeks compared to non-OT subjects. A comparison of changes between the initial and follow-up assessments demonstrated that the OT group had significantly better olfactory results for the total KVSS II, threshold, and identification scores than the non-OT group. The degree of olfactory improvement after OT was affected by the initial score. Conclusion. The effects of OT in patients with PIOD were demonstrated in this study. A meaningful contribution of this study is that Korean patients were tested using odors familiar to them in comparison with a control group.

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Objectives. Past several studies have proven that caffeine facilitates attentional enhancement by acting as an adenosine antagonist once it is absorbed by the body, resulting in improved psycho-behavioral function. Modern clinical olfactory function tests are usually assessed by psychophysical tests but due to a paucity of data, the influence of enhanced attention by caffeine on olfactory function still remains unclear. The objective of this study was to compare results of cognitive function (attention) and olfactory function before and after caffeine administration in order to analyze effects of caffeine on olfactory function in normosmic subjects.Methods. This study enrolled 49 participants of Konkuk University Hospital with a mean age of 27.7 years who had patent olfactory clefts and no olfactory dysfunction from May 2015 to February 2016. Subjects were restrained from caffeine 10 hours before the test. On day 1, participant’s subjective olfactory function was evaluated before and after uptake of either caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee using visual analog scale (VAS) score, minimum cross-sectional area (MCA) measured by acoustic rhinometry, and the Korean version of Sniffin’ Stick II (KVSS II). Evaluation of participant’s attentional degree was measured by d2 test. On day 2, the same procedure was carried out with counterpart substance. The type of coffee initially administrated was randomly selected.Results. After administration, caffeinated coffee resulted in significant attentional enhancement than decaffeinated coffee. Results of d2 test showed statistically significant differences in the parameters of total number of errors and omission errors. In both the caffeinated and decaffeinated groups, the patients showed slight increase in VAS score and nasal cavity area; however, the difference was not statistically significant. Also, caffeinated coffee intake compared to decaffeinated coffee intake showed no significant relevance to olfactory function.Conclusion. Caffeine may significantly improve attentional congnitive function, while not have acute effects on olfactory function.

Olfactory disorders can be classified as conductive, sensorineural or due to an impairment in the olfactory central nervous system. The vast majority of olfactory dysfunction occurs as a result of upper respiratory tract infection (18%-45%), sinonasal disease (7%-56%) or head trauma (8%-20%), whereas the prevalence of primary anosmia is low (0.4%). 1 The causes of primary anosmia are syndromic and non-syndromic. Syndromic primary anosmia is usually associated with Kallmann syndrome, which is characterised by hormonal abnormalities such as hypogonadotropic hypogonadism. On a very rare occasion, a primary anosmia presents as olfactory bulb agenesis without associated syndrome. In previous studies of such cases, diagnosis is usually based on the absence of an olfactory bulb on structural MRI, rather than on objective functional measures. But recent study revealed that olfactory bulb agenesis does not necessarily mean anosmia. So we examined both structural and functional MRI and olfactory event-related potential data to diagnose isolated congenital olfactory bulb agenesis, gaining objective evidence of olfactory function.

Objective To investigate the incidence of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo subtype by hospital visit type (i.e. out-patient department vs emergency room), in a single tertiary referral centre. Methods A total of 772 consecutive patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo were included. Using head-roll and Dix–Hallpike tests, benign paroxysmal positional vertigo subtype was determined as canalolithiasis posterior semicircular canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, geotropic horizontal semicircular canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo or apogeotropic benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. Results The posterior semicircular canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo patients who were evaluated via the out-patient department outnumbered those evaluated via the emergency room, while those with horizontal semicircular canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo who were evaluated via the emergency room outnumbered those evaluated via the out-patient department. Conclusion A significantly higher proportion of patients who visited the emergency room had horizontal semicircular canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo than posterior semicircular canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. These results suggest that the true incidence of horizontal semicircular canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo might be higher than previously reported.

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A 71-year-old woman presented to the clinic with a 1-year history of chronic nasal obstruction. She denied any history of underlying systemic disease or previous sinus surgery. Nasal endoscopy showed two large papillomatous lesions obstructing the left middle meatus and sphenoethmoidal recess. Under the suspicion of an inverted papilloma, the lesions were biopsied at our outpatient office, confirming the diagnosis. Computed tomography (CT) of the sinus was performed, revealing soft-tissue densities occupying the sphenoethmoid recess and the frontal, anterior, and posterior ethmoid sinus on the left side. Two focal hyperostosis lesions were observed in the lower portion of the left anterior ethmoid sinus (figure 1, A) and a A