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Background: Olfaction is critically important for a good quality of life and incorporated in many physiological domains such as attention, emotion, memory, and airflow motor control. Olfactory researches have been expanded in the last decade due to close relation between the olfactory disorders and different brain diseases. Diagnosis of anosmia and hyposmia are based on history, smell tests, and physical examination which rely on the patient's response without an objective measure of impairment. This study assessed the value of volumetry and DTI parameters as objective measurements for olfactory dysfunction. Fourteen patients with chronic sinonasal polyposis for at least 6 months were included in this study; all of them underwent tailored MRI examination including volumetry and DTI for olfactory bulbs and tracts. The results were compared to the same number of age and sex-matched healthy control group. Results: The study results showed that olfactory bulb and tract (OB/T) volume, FA and ADC could distinguish between patients and healthy controls. Statistically significant differences were noticed between the FA & ADC values of patient and control groups (p < 0.05) and a highly significant one was noticed as regarding the OT volume (p < 0.001). Conclusion: MR volumetry and DTI parameters can be used as objective measurements for the olfactory dysfunction for patients with chronic sinonasal polyposis.

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Introduction One of the most recent techniques in imaging tumors is the diffusion-weighted MRI. It provides information regarding the metabolic, molecular, and pathophysiological aspects of tumors, especially thyroid gland cancer. Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) has also been proposed as a sensitive marker for monitoring treatment response in head and neck cancers. The biophysical mechanism of DWI is based on the translational motion of water molecules in tissues. The magnitude of this motion is characterized by its apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values. Objective The aim of the present study was to evaluate the certainty of ADC value in differentiating between benign and malignant thyroid lesions. Materials and methods Neck MRI with several sequences including DWI in the axial plane were carried out for 49 patients who presented with thyroid masses either benign or malignant. ADC maps were calculated by using the MRI machine software. Results A total of 49 patients (77.6%) were included in the present study. There were 11 men (22.4%) and 38 women patients (77.6%), with a mean age of 44.4 years. The lesions were benign in 31 cases (63.3%) and malignant in 18 cases (36.7%). The ADC values were significantly different (P<0.001) between benign and malignant lesions. Conclusion ADC value is a promising noninvasive imaging tool that can be used for characterization and differentiation of thyroid nodules.

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