The ability to taste and smell can be lost or impaired after a
head injury, according to a new study by scientists from the
Université de Montréal, the Lucie Bruneau Rehabilitation Centre,
as well as the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in
Rehabilitation of Greater Montreal. Published in the journal
Brain Injury, the investigation established that mild to severe
traumatic brain injury could cause olfactory loss. “The study
clearly demonstrates that olfactory deficits can occur in mild
traumatic brain injury patients as well as in moderate and
severe TBI patients,” says study co-author and neuropsychologist
Maurice Ptito, a professor at the Université de Montréal School
of Optometry. “We also found that patients with a frontal lesion
were more likely to show olfactory dysfunctions.” The research
team recruited 49 people with TBI (73 percent male with a median
age of 43) who completed a questionnaire and underwent two smell
tests to measure their olfactory loss. The result: 55 percent of
subjects had an im