According to new research in the April 2010 issue of Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery, the use of Traditional Chinese acupuncture (TCA) can prove to be an effective option to treat patients with persistent post- viral olfactory dysfunction (PVOD).

TCA is a treatment method where very thin needles are used for stimulating specific body points in order to elicit advantageous therapeutic responses.

From Sciencedaily.com:

To date, there is no validated pharmacotherapy for PVOD, but attempts have been made to establish a standardized treatment. In the literature, systemic and topical steroids as well as vitamin B supplements, caroverine, alpha lipoic acid, and other drugs were used to treat patients. The researchers point out that in addition to these treatments, complementary and alternative medicines are currently being employed by many patients on their own, and that exploration into their usefulness by traditional Western medicine should be validated.

In the current study, 15 patients presenting to an outpatient clinic with PVOD were treated by TCA in 10 weekly 30-minute sessions. Subjective olfactometry was performed using the Sniffin’ Sticks test set. Treatment success was defined as an increase of at least six points in the sticks test scores. The effects of TCA were compared to matched pairs of people suffering from PVOD who had been treated with vitamin B complex. Eight patients treated with TCA improved olfactory function, compared with two treated with vitamin B complex.

It was acknowledged by the authors that their study is limited by size and future studies must be conducted in a larger population environment.