Research Roundup

Many people globally reported losing their sense of smell after contracting COVID-19.

This study evaluated the results of using platelet-rich plasma (PRP), an autologous blood product with supraphysiologic concentrations of growth factors to treat loss of smell in patients recruited in the US as a consequence of COVID-19.

The authors conducted a randomised controlled trial (RCT) and recruited several patients with COVID-19 who had reported loss of smell between six and 12 months of contracting COVID-19. Patients in the trial were randomly given either three intranasal injections of PRP or sterile saline into their olfactory clefts. A total of 35 patients were recruited but only 26 of these completed the study.

The results showed that the patients who had received PRP treatment had a greater improvement in olfaction compared with the placebo group at three months. Also noted was a greater improvement in smell discrimination following the PRP treatment compared with placebo; however, there was no difference in smell identification or threshold. There was also no difference in subjective scores between the PRP and placebo groups. No adverse effects were reported during the trial.