Introduction:
Rare and mild adverse effects on cranial nerves have been reported after vaccination. Here, we report a singular case of smell and taste disorder associated with tinnitus that occurred after Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccination together with a review of the available literature.
Case presentation:
A 76-year-old patient experienced smell disorder, ear fullness and tinnitus 2 days after the first dose of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. The patient then underwent a complete audiological and Ear, Nose and Throat evaluation, nasal endoscopy, Sniffin'Sticks battery, audiometric test battery, and cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The exams revealed hyposmia and bilateral reduction of the volume of the olfactory bulbs (OB). At the follow-up, tinnitus was completely resolved while olfactory dysfunction only partially reduced.
Review of the literature:
A PubMed search was conducted on olfactory and gustatory dysfunctions after COVID-19 vaccination resulting in four case reports with a total of 10 patients. The main symptoms were hyposmia, parosmia, and dysgeusia developed after 1-9 days from vaccination with complete resolution occurring within 1 month. Notably, none of the considered articles reported reduction of OB volumes at cerebral MRI.
Discussion:
So far, no definitive cause-effect relationship has been established between anti-COVID19 vaccination and otolaryngologic adverse reactions. The persistence of hyposmia in our patient could possibly be explained by the reduction in OB volume, even though also the advanced age of the patient needs to be taken into account. This is a first indication of a cause-effect relation between hyposmia and Covid19 vaccination, even though a more robust study is needed to confirm the autoimmunological mechanisms responsible for these rare adverse reactions. However, it is worth highlighting that benefits of the anti-COVID-19 vaccination clearly outweigh the risk of rare adverse events.