United States: According to a study from the University of South Florida (USF) and Indiana University, a chemotherapy drug can lead to significant hearing loss among those who have survived cancer.
More about the news
As USF noted, the researchers have reportedly followed up with hundreds of those survivors who had testicular cancer and had gotten a chemo drug called Cisplatin for a period of fourteen years.
Among the participating survivors, their average age was 48 years, and a whopping 78 percent of them were experiencing “significant difficulties in everyday listening situations.”
More about the study
As per the expert’s report, this was the first study to measure hearing loss in cancer survivors.
According to Victoria Sanchez, the lead author and an associate professor in the USF Health Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, “Patients receiving cisplatin-based chemotherapy are at high risk for permanent hearing loss, and for some, that hearing loss will progress years after chemo treatment,” as the Fox News reported.
Moreover, “This hearing loss affects how people hear in everyday life, like a noisy restaurant or other social gatherings,” Sanchez added.
More about Cisplatin drug
According to the National Cancer Institute’s website, the drug Cisplatin is a kind that has platinum metal in it.
This is an IV-administered drug and is approved for various cancer treatments, such as bladder, ovary, and testicular, administered either alone or in combination with other medicines.
As per the researchers, high doses are associated with deteriorating cases of hearing loss.
Sanchez said, “It was surprising to see that cardiovascular conditions are related to increased hearing loss and progression of hearing loss, which speaks to the need for patients to consider healthy lifestyle choices to help protect their ears,” as Fox News reported.
What more are the experts stating?
According to the USF researchers, the ear are more susceptible to the side-effects of drug, as they are not able to filter it out.
The USF release added, “This leads to inflammation and the destruction of sensory cells that are critical for coding sound, causing permanent hearing loss that can progressively get worse well after cisplatin treatments are completed,” as Fox News reported.
According to Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center, Cisplatin is a “highly effective treatment” for testicular cancer, which helps in improving the treatment rate from ten percent to ninety percent when used in combination with other drugs.
Moreover, as Siegel, who was not part of the study, “[The drug has a] very high degree of side effects, [including] hearing loss, which is very well-known, in up to 80% of patients.”