IMMEDIATE RESTORATION OF OLFACTORY FUNCTION FOLLOWING COVID-19 INFECTION IN A PATIENT WITH ANOSMIA DUE TO FUNCTIONAL ENDOSCOPIC SINUS SURGERY COMPLICATION – A CASE REPORT

The authors present a case of a 50-year-old female patient with a history of chronic rhinosinusitis, for which she underwent functional endoscopic sinus surgery. This significantly improved respiration, but left her with a self-reported complete loss of olfactory function. Six years later, still with unresolved anosmia, she tested positive for COVID-19 a few days after she had been vaccinated with the first dose of Pfizer BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer, New York, NY, US). The disease course was uneventful, and she remained asymptomatic. One day after the diagnosis of COVID-19 infection, she reported a sudden complete return of her olfactory function, which has remained stable until now, 3 months after her recovery from COVID-19 infection. The physiologic dynamics underlying this event are a mystery.