Odor abnormalities caused by bilateral thalamic infarction

Abstract

Odor is the only sensation thought to be unrelated to the thalamus. However, accumulating evidence suggests that the dorsomedial nucleus (DM) of the thalamus is associated with odor. Although the thalamus is prone to ischemia, only a single patient with bilateral DM infarctions was reported to have odor abnormalities. We describe a second such patient with infarctions involving the left DM and the right ventral posterior nucleus and ventral lateral nucleus, nuclei adjacent to the DM, associated with transient edema. In contrast to the previous case, our patient had transient odor abnormality. These observations suggested that direct and/or indirect bilateral involvement of the DM might be associated with odor abnormalities in patients with thalamic infarction.