IMPROVED DEVICES, SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETECTING A BILATERAL DIFFERENTIAL IN OLFACTORY DETECTION THRESHOLD FOR PURE ODORANTS

摘要

The present invention concerns a method for ruling out the presence of Alzheimer's disease in a patient by measuring the sensitivity of the left and right olfactory bulbs to substances that only stimulate the first cranial nerve and not the 5th cranial nerve, comprising: providing at least two pure odorants, the pure odorants capable of stimulating the first cranial nerve and not the 5th cranial nerve; establishing an introduction order for the at least two pure odorants; introducing pure odorant-infused air in the established introduction order to the patient's first nostril; measuring and recording a pure odorant detection metric for each of the pure odorant-infused air introductions, the pure odorant detection metric comprising the time and/or the number of breaths required by the patient to reach a pure odorant detection threshold with the first nostril for each of the at least two pure odorants and switching from a first pure odorant in the established introduction order to the next pure odorant in the established introduction order after the patient reaches the pure odorant detection threshold for the first pure odorant; introducing pure odorant-infused air in the established introduction order to the patient's second nostril; measuring and recording a pure odorant detection metric for each of the pure odorant-infused air introductions, the pure odorant detection metric comprising the time and/or the number of breaths required by the patient to reach a pure odorant detection threshold with the second nostril for each of the at least two pure odorants and switching from a first pure odorant in the established introduction order to the next pure odorant in the established introduction order after the patient reaches the pure odorant detection threshold for the first pure odorant; comparing the recorded pure odorant detection metric for the first nostril and the second nostril to obtain a relative pure odorant detection threshold value for each nostril; determining whether the obtained relative pure odorant detection threshold value for the first nostril is statistically different from the obtained relative pure odorant detection threshold for the second nostril; and concluding that, if the patient's pure odorant detection threshold value for the patient's left nostril is not statistically higher than pure odorant detection threshold value for the patient's right nostril, the patient is ruled out for the presence of Alzheimer's disease, since the left and right olfactory bulbs have sensitivities to pure odorants that are statistically equivalent and therefore not consistent with Alzheimer's disease.