The Potential Therapeutic Effect of Ivermectin Nasal Drops in the Treatment of Post COVID-19 Parosmia

The current study will be a pilot study for a randomized controlled trial conducted on 60 patients recruited from the outpatient clinic of the Otorhinolaryngology Department, Menoufia Faculty of Medicine after approval of the institutional review board and taking informed written consent from every patient before participation in the study.

To be included in the study, patients should be more than 18 years old, have a history of COVID 19 infection more than three months ago as confirmed by PCR test, have a post COpost-COVIDVID parosmia, and have no history of systemic steroid administration over the last one month. History of previous nasal surgery, underlying systemic diseases (like diabetes mellitus, hypertension, or autoimmune diseases), and hypersensitivity to Ivermectin were the exclusion criteria for this study.

Patients of the study will be randomly and equally distributed between case and control groups using block randomization methods using 4 blocks each comprising 4 patients with 6 patterns for every block one of which was selected randomly using random numbers generated by Excel program. Case group will receive a 4 weeks course of Ivermectin 1% in a dose of two drops per each nostril twice daily. Control group will receive a 4 weeks course of local steroids in the form of budesonide (64 µg per puff in a dose of 1 puff for each nostril twice daily.

Assessment protocol:

Patients of the study will be assessed before and at the end of the treatment protocol with history taking to define the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Endoscopic examination of the nasal cavity will be performed to exclude any other intranasal pathology. The degree of parosmia will be assessed using a visual analog scale before and four weeks after treatment.