New 10 minute treatment can help restore sense of smell in long Covid patients

20 November 2023 , 12:27

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New 10 minute treatment can help restore sense of smell in long Covid patients

People who can’t smell after suffering from long Covid may finally see the sense restored with a new 10 minute treatment.

Whilst loss of smell was a common symptom of coronavirus, some patients never recovered from the illness and have been left without the ability to smell for years after they were first infected. But this could now be cured with an image-guided minimally invasive procedure, scientists say.

This new treatment involves injecting anaesthetic directly into the stellate ganglion on one side of the neck to stimulate the autonomic nervous system, which is accurately achieved with CT guidance. It takes less than 10 minutes and no sedation is necessary. It has been used in the past to treat several other conditions including cluster headaches, phantom limb pain, Raynaud’s and Meniere’s syndromes, angina and cardiac arrhythmia.

Symptoms of long Covid may finally be relieved (stock image) (Getty Images/Science Photo Library RF)

Lead author professor Adam Zoga said: “Post-COVID parosmia is common and increasingly recognised. Patients can develop a distaste for foods and drinks they used to enjoy. Parosmia has previously been reported as a rare disorder occurring after brain trauma, brain surgery, stroke, viral syndromes, and with some head and neck tumours. We were not entirely confident that the procedure would work for parosmia.”

For the study, 54 patients were referred from an ear, nose and throat specialist after at least six months of post-COVID parosmia that was resistant to pharmaceutical and topical therapies.

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Professor Zoga added: “The initial patient had a tremendously positive outcome, almost immediately, with continued improvement to the point of symptom resolution at four weeks. We have been surprised at some outcomes, including near 100 per cent resolution of phantosmia, a condition that causes people to detect smells that aren’t there, in some patients, throughout the trial. Other treatments have failed to date, this injection is working.”

Isobel Williams