A study comparing SPECT and MRI in patients with anosmia after traumatic brain injury.
OBJECTIVE
The initial or first clinical presentation of altered sensation of smell is directly linked to the degree of impaired sensitivity. We took the opportunity to examine normal and nonspecific MRI findings in 6 patients with known anosmia after traumatic brain injury with perfusion SPECT brain imaging.


METHODS
Patients included those with primary loss of smell after head injury. All patients underwent standard testing by the Taste & Smell Center. Normal or nonspecific near normal brain MRI studies were subsequently referred for SPECT perfusion neuroimaging.


RESULTS
MRI studies were negative in 3 cases. In the remaining studies, one case showed nonspecific white matter change, another low signal in the left frontal gyrus, and the sixth case merely some cortical atrophy. All 6 cases demonstrated lesions on SPECT involving the frontal, temporal, and temporoparietal cortex.


CONCLUSIONS
This study identified altered blood perfusion pattern in otherwise normal anatomic structures on MRI.
Mann
Norman M
NM
Department of Medicine, Taste & Smell Clinic Division, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut 06030-1718, USA. tasteandsmell@neuron.uchc.edu
Vento
John A
JA
D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D020201:Brain Hemorrhage, Traumatic / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009049:Motorcycles; D000857:Olfaction Disorders / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012887:Skull Fractures / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology; D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime