In Vivo Imaging of the Olfactory Epithelium Using Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy

This research is being done to better characterize the part of the nose that helps people smell. Currently, the only ways to study smell loss mostly rely on how people report it, rather than being able to see the underlying structures directly. In this study, the team will use a special microscope (Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy (CLE)), originally developed for brain tissue, to look at the part of the nose that helps to detects smell. The study team hopes to identify the tiny structures in that area and see how they might be different in people who have smell loss compared to those who do not.

NCT Number	NCT07546617
Lead Sponsor	Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center Collaborators: National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)
Conditions	Endonasal Surgery, Endoscopic Sinus Surgery, Olfactory Dysfunction
Enrollment	36 participants
Start Date	2026-04-28
Primary Completion	2027-04-30 (estimated)
Study Completion	2027-07-31 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2026-08-14