Stellate ganglion block for treating post-COVID-19 parosmia.
Int Forum Allergy Rhinol
; 14(6): 1088-1096, 2024 Jun.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38226898
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Post-COVID parosmia may be due to dysautonomia and sympathetic hyperresponsiveness, which can be attenuated by stellate ganglion block (SGB). This study evaluates SGB as a treatment for post-COVID olfactory dysfunction (OD).METHODS:
Retrospective case series with prospective data of patients with post-COVID OD undergoing unilateral (UL) or bilateral (BL) SGB. Patients completed Brief Smell Identification Tests (BSIT) (12 points maximum) and post-procedure surveys including parosmia severity scores on a scale of 1 (absent) to 10 (severe). Scores were compared from before treatment (pre-SGB) to after first (SGB1) or second (SGB2) treatments in overall, UL, and BL cohorts.RESULTS:
Forty-seven patients with post-COVID OD underwent SGB, including 23 UL and 24 BL. Twenty patients completed pre- and post-SGB BSITs (eight UL and 12 BL). Twenty-eight patients completed postprocedure surveys (11 UL and 17 BL). There were no differences in BSIT scores from pre-SGB to post-SGB1 or post-SGB2 for the overall (p = 0.098), UL (p = 0.168), or BL (p = 0.230) cohorts. Parosmia severity for the overall cohort improved from pre-SGB (8.82 ± 1.28) to post-SGB1 (6.79 ± 2.38) and post-SGB2 (5.41 ± 2.35), with significant differences from pre-SGB to post-SGB1 (p < 0.001) and pre-SGB to post-SGB2 (p < 0.001), but not post-SGB1 to post-SGB2 (p = 0.130). Number of parosmia triggers decreased for overall (p = 0.002), UL (p = 0.030) and BL (p = 0.024) cohorts. Quality of life (QOL) improved for all cohorts regarding food enjoyment, meal preparation, and socialization (p < 0.05).CONCLUSION:
SGB may improve subjective parosmia and QOL for patients with post-COVID OD, however it may not affect odor identification. Further placebo-controlled studies are warranted.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Autonomic Nerve Block
/
Stellate Ganglion
/
COVID-19
/
Olfaction Disorders
Type of study:
Clinical_trials
/
Prognostic_studies
Aspects:
Patient_preference
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Int Forum Allergy Rhinol
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States
Country of publication:
United States