Peripheral and central smell regions in children with epilepsy: An MRI evaluation

•A decrease in the sense of smell can be expected in all types of epilepsy.•Epilepsy-induced nerve damage may affect the central olfactory region.•Early diagnosis and treatment may prevent a reduction in components of the central olfactory center. We investigated the peripheral and central olfactory regions in children with epilepsy using cranial MRI. In this retrospective study, cranial MRI images were obtained from 23 children with epilepsy and 23 healthy controls. Olfactory bulb (OB) volume and olfactory sulcus (OS) depth in the peripheral olfactory region and insular cortex and corpus amygdala areas in the central olfactory region were measured. There was no significant difference in the OB volume and OS depth in the peripheral olfactory regions in the two groups (p > 0.05). In the central olfactory region, the insular cortex and corpus amygdala areas in the epilepsy group were significantly smaller than those in the control group (p