Objective: The aim of the study was to determine how odor processing is altered in patients with unilateral supratentorial brain tumors.
Methods: Olfactory event-related potentials (OERPs) were evaluated in 10 patients with unilateral brain tumors of the frontal or temporal lobe in response to linalool and allylcaproate. Both odors were presented monorhinally by a constant-flow olfactometer. In addition, 20 healthy subjects were examined. While sniffing, the subjects were asked to discriminate the two odors. EEG was recorded from 7 electrode positions (Fz, Cz, Pz, F3/4, P3/4). Amplitudes and latencies of 3 peaks (N1, P2, P3) were measured. To control for effects of modality-non-specific alterations on the olfactory components acoustic event-related potentials (AERPs) were registered by use of an oddball paradigm.
Results: Patients with right-sided lesions showed distinct deficits in the discrimination task after stimulation of the right and left nostril. In contrast, patients with left-sided lesions only had an attenuation of correct reactions after left-sided stimulation. In the OERPs, patients with right-sided lesions showed P2- and P3-components with decreased amplitudes at parietal electrode positions. These alterations appeared after ipsi- and contralateral stimulation. Patients with left-sided lesions showed a significant effect of the side of stimulation. Their OERP-amplitudes were decreased after left-sided stimulation but not after right-sided stimulation. After right-sided olfactory stimulation a correlation between the olfactory and the acoustic ERP was seen in patients with right-sided lesions.
Conclusions: Olfactory performance of the participating patients was markedly reduced. Patients with right-sided lesions showed bilateral impairment, which would support the importance of the right hemisphere in olfaction. The alteration of the topographic distribution of P2- and P3-amplitudes in patients with right-sided lesions might reflect an impairment of early and late olfactory processing steps.