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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2022 Mar;279(3):1329-1334.
doi: 10.1007/s00405-021-06872-9. Epub 2021 May 25.

Acupuncture is associated with a positive effect on odour discrimination in patients with postinfectious smell loss-a controlled prospective study

Tanja Drews  1   2 , Thomas Hummel  3 , Bettina Rochlitzer  3   4 , Bettina Hauswald  3 , Antje Hähner  3
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Acupuncture is associated with a positive effect on odour discrimination in patients with postinfectious smell loss-a controlled prospective study

Tanja Drews et al. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2022 Mar.

Abstract

Introduction: Smell disorders are common in the general population and occur e.g., after infections, trauma or idiopathically Treatment strategies for smell loss range from surgery, medication to olfactory training, depending on the pathology, but they are limited This study examined the effect of acupuncture on olfactory function.

Methods: Sixty patients with smell loss following infections of the upper respiratory tract were included in this investigation Half of the study group were randomly assigned to verum acupuncture and the other half to sham acupuncture Olfaction was measured by means of the "Sniffin' Sticks" test battery (odour threshold, discrimination and identification).

Results: Compared to sham acupuncture, verum was associated with an improvement of smell function as measured by the TDI score (p = 0.039) The improvement was largely determined by improvement in odour discrimination, and was significantly better in patients with a shorter duration of the disorder.

Conclusion: The present results suggest that acupuncture is an effective supplementary treatment option for patients with olfactory loss.

Keywords: Acupuncture; Olfaction; Smell loss; Sniffin’ sticks.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Image 1
Image 1
Verum-points on face and ear (Bl 3, LG23, Di 20, NP 12, Op 16), on the arm (Di 4, Lu 7) and on the leg (MP 6, Ma 44)
Fig 1
Fig 1
Mean differences (scores after treatment minus scores before acupuncture) of olfactory test results with Standard Errors; * shows significant results
Fig 2
Fig 2
Correlation between changes in TDI scores and duration of smell loss
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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