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. 2022 Oct;52(5):1506-1512.
doi: 10.55730/1300-0144.5490. Epub 2022 Oct 19.

Magnetic resonance imaging findings in COVID-19-related anosmia

Hüseyin Çetin  1 , Ayşe Şule Ateş  2 , Ogün Taydaş  3 , Bahri Elmas  4 , Ertuğrul Güçlü  5
Affiliations

Magnetic resonance imaging findings in COVID-19-related anosmia

Hüseyin Çetin et al. Turk J Med Sci. 2022 Oct.

Abstract

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) mostly manifests with fever, shortness of breath, and cough, has also been found to cause some neurological symptoms, such as anosmia and ageusia. The aim of the study was to present the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings of patients with anosmia-hyposmia symptoms and to discuss potential mechanisms in light of these findings.

Methods: Of the 2412 patients diagnosed with COVID-19-related pneumonia (RT-PCR at least once + clinically confirmed) between March and December 2020, 15 patients underwent olfactory MRI to investigate the cause of ongoing anosmia/ hyposmia symptoms were included in the study.

Results: Eleven (73.3%) patients were female and four (26.7%) were male. A total of eight patients (53.3%) showed thickening in the olfactory cleft region, where the olfactory epithelium is located. In nine patients (60%), enhancement was observed in the olfactory cleft region. Diffusion-weighted imaging showed restricted diffusion in three patients (20%) (corpus callosum splenium in one patient, thalamus mediodorsal nucleus in one patient, and mesencephalon in one patient).

Discussion: This study revealed that there is a relationship between anosmia and MRI findings. Larger studies can enlighten the pathophysiological mechanism and shed light on both diagnosis and new treatments.

Keywords: COVID-19; anosmia; magnetic resonance imaging.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Coronal pre- (a) and postcontrast (b) T1-weighted image showing thickening and enhancement in the bilateral olfactory cleft and mucosa.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Coronal pre- (a) and postcontrast (b) T1-weighted image showing thickening and enhancement in the right olfactory cleft and mucosa.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Axial diffusion-weighted image (a) (b = 1000) and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) map (b) showing a diffusion-restricted lesion in the splenium of the corpus callosum (arrow).
Figure 4
Figure 4
The control images of the same patient, axial diffusion-weighted image (a) (b = 1000) and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) map (b), shows that the lesions disappeared.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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