Sinonasal surgery alters brain structure and function: Neuroanatomical correlates of olfactory dysfunction

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

Olfactory dysfunction (OD) is more common than hearing loss, partial blindness, or blindness and can have a significant impact on the quality of life. Moreover, unexplained OD is an early biomarker in neurodegenerative diseases and increases 5-year mortality risk. Structural alterations in olfactory eloquent brain regions may represent the neuroanatomical correlates of OD. Previous studies have demonstrated reduced gray matter (GM) volume in areas of presumed olfactory relevance in patients with OD. However, being cross-sectional in nature, these studies do not provide evidence of causality, for which longitudinal work is required. At present, however, longitudinal studies addressing olfactory structural plasticity are limited, both in number and methodological approach: to our knowledge, such work has not included parallel functional imaging to confirm the relevance of structural change. We therefore performed a longitudinal multimodal neuroimaging study investigating structural and functional plasticity in 24 patients undergoing surgical treatment for chronic rhinosinusitis, compared with 17 healthy controls. We demonstrated functionally significant structural plasticity within the orbitofrontal, anterior cingulate and insular cortices, and temporal poles in patients 3 months after surgery. Of interest, GM volume decreased in these regions, in association with increased psychophysical scores and BOLD signal. To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate both structural and functional plasticity of the central olfactory networks, thereby confirming these areas as neuroanatomical correlates of olfactory function/dysfunction.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2156-2171
Number of pages16
JournalJournal of neuroscience research
Volume99
Issue number9
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2021
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

Scopus 85107437458
ORCID /0000-0001-9713-0183/work/146645282

Keywords

Keywords

  • Adult, Aged, Brain/diagnostic imaging, Chronic Disease, Cohort Studies, Endoscopy/methods, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Gray Matter/diagnostic imaging, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods, Male, Middle Aged, Olfaction Disorders/diagnostic imaging, Sinusitis/diagnostic imaging, Smell/physiology