[Origin of olfactory and rhinosensory evoked cortical potentials in diseases of the central nervous system].

This is the first report to be published on olfactory evoked potentials in patients with well-defined lesions of the central nervous system and the trigeminal nerve. Absence of olfactory evoked potentials is seen in post-central and parietotemporal lesions. The first peak of the so-called olfactory evoked twin potential is absent in lesions of the basal nuclei and sectioning of the trigeminal or ophthalmic nerve, whereas there is no second peak in subcortico-frontal and cortico-temporal lesions. Tumours of the corpus callosum and sectioning of the maxillary and mandibular nerves do not disturb the olfactory evoked potentials. The anatomically different localisation and the functional synergism of the olfactory and trigeminal systems in the perception of odours and the processing of olfactory evoked potentials are pointed out.