As a lurker in the group I have read with interest the "smell tests" thread
and I think it is possible that with aviation the tests are used alongside
other tests for neurological function. The olfactory nerve and sense of
smell is not only a powerful indicator of brain function but in psychiatry
because of the link with the limbic system of the brain the olfactory
testing process often is used as part of a battery of tests in
schizophrenia ( I am also an RMN and have seen it used in the past) I
should think testing is performed as part of examination of brain function -
particularly in pilots. Just my point of view! Some studies are cited
below which although rather dated are solid grounded:
Olfactory dys-function, is reliably observed in early Parkinsons Disease on
awide range of quantitative olfactory tests, including tests of odour
identification, detection and discrimi-nation. Doty, Deems & Stellar
(1988), for example,found that 73 of 81 patients studied (90%) had
odouridentification test scores lower than their matched normal controls.
This alteration in ability to smell is relatively specific to Parkinsons
Disease. Thus, decreased ability to smell is absent, or present
infrequently or only to a minor degree, in progressive supranuclearpalsy (a
condition which shares a number of signswith PD) (Doty et al., 1993),
essential tremor(Busenbark et al., 1992), multiple system atrophy(Wenning
et al., 1993), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis(Sajjadian et al., 1994),
multiple sclerosis (Doty et al.,1984)
Kind regards, Sue Mclaren at http://www.ohnurse.co.uk
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