Pathologies et troubles de l’odorat : quels outils en pratique ?

Abstract: Although olfactory deficiency is mainly related to facial post-traumatic accidents and various bacterial and viral infections of the respiratory area, the causal relation between other kind of diseases (in particular neurodegenerative) and olfactory deficiencies are extensively studied, in particular because of their potential applications in very early diagnostics. This paper first describes the anatomical and biological characteristics of the olfactory detection system and outlines the ones explaining the sensitivity of this perception to various pathological affections. It also describes the principles of psychophysics tests and of their use in the description and the evaluation of the various aspects of the detection of an odor (quality, intensity, pleasantness). The third part of the paper is devoted to a description, for different pathologies as infections, Parkinson, Alzheimer and cancers, of the possible causes of the olfactory associated dysfunctions and of the olfactory tests most currently used in their diagnostics. The conclusion outlines the limits of these tests, and shows some perspectives for future research. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]