Olfactory impairment and traumatic brain injury in blast-injured combat troops: a cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To determine whether a structured and quantitative assessment of differential olfactory performance-recognized between a blast-injured traumatic brain injury (TBI) group and a demographically comparable blast-injured control group-can serve as a reliable antecedent marker for preclinical detection of intracranial neurotrauma.

Methods

We prospectively and consecutively enrolled 231 polytrauma inpatients, acutely injured from explosions during combat operations in either Afghanistan or Iraq and requiring immediate stateside evacuation and sequential admission to our tertiary care medical center over a 2½-year period. This study correlates olfactometric scores with both contemporaneous neuroimaging findings as well as the clinical diagnosis of TBI, tabulates populatio

SUBMITTER: Xydakis MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4408285 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature