key: cord-0896238-mh56week
authors: Vityala, Yethindra; Kadyrova, Aliya; Zhumabaeva, Shirin; Bazarbaeva, Aizhan; Mamatov, Sagynali
title: Use of B‐complex vitamins and olfactory training for treating COVID‐19–related anosmia
date: 2021-11-12
journal: Clin Case Rep
DOI: 10.1002/ccr3.5069
sha: 5ff2cec0ca58e195697d621130beb440a1528efa
doc_id: 896238
cord_uid: mh56week

A 42‐year‐old male patient was diagnosed with coronavirus disease 2019. His symptoms improved 2 weeks after lopinavir therapy (800 mg/day). However, he was subsequently diagnosed with complete anosmia. Magnetic resonance brain imaging showed no abnormalities. We prescribed B‐complex vitamins and olfactory training. Forty days later, he recovered.

A 19-year-old male patient was hospitalized for intermittent fever, dry cough, and malaise. On the third day of hospitalization, the patient was diagnosed with COVID-19 and treated with lopinavir (800 mg/day) for 2 weeks. After 1 week of hospitalization, the patient reported losing his sense of smell in both nasal cavities. Based on olfactory function tests, he was diagnosed with complete anosmia and olfactory function tests evaluate the degree of anosmia more objectively, 1 helpful during the follow-up of patients to evaluate treatment response. Magnetic resonance brain imaging showed hypoplasia of both olfactory bulbs (Figure 1) . Thereafter, treatment with 5000 IU of Citoneurin (vitamin B1 [thiamine hydrochloride], 100 mg/day; vitamin B6 [pyridoxine hydrochloride], 100 mg/day; and vitamin B12 [cyanocobalamin], 5000 mcg/day) orally and olfactory training, which consists of inhaling identified flasks containing cinnamon, cloves, and lavender for 15 min/day were prescribed. Repeated exposure to an odorant may modulate the regenerative capacity of the olfactory receptors. 2 Subjective signs of anosmia began to improve 12 days later. Two weeks after lopinavir therapy, the patient recovered from most symptoms of COVID-19; and 40 days after the initiation of B-complex vitamins and olfactory training, olfactory function tests showed improved olfactory ability and he was recovered from anosmia.

Sniffin' sticks: olfactory performance assessed by the combined testing of odor identification, odor discrimination and olfactory threshold

Olfactory training is helpful in postinfectious olfactory loss: a randomized, controlled, multicenter study

Use of B-complex vitamins and olfactory training for treating COVID-19-related anosmia

Published with written consent of the patient.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Yethindra Vityala involved in conception, design of the work, manuscript preparation, and data acquisition. Aliya Kadyrova involved in design of the work, manuscript preparation, and data acquisition. Shirin Zhumabaeva, Sagynali Mamatov, and Aizhan Bazarbaeva involved in manuscript preparation and data acquisition.

The patient gave his informed consent prior to his inclusion in the study.

Published with written consent of the patient.

Data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.ORCID Yethindra Vityala https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1007-2422 Aliya Kadyrova https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5305-1042