Cancer treatment in determination of hearing loss

• Main Authors: Priscila Feliciano de Oliveira, Camila Silva Oliveira, Joice Santos Andrade, Tamara Figueiredo do Carmo Santos, Aline Cabral de Oliveira-Barreto
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2016-02-01
• Series: Brazilian Journal of Otorhinolaryngology
• Subjects: Neoplasia; Perda auditiva; Quimioterapia; Radioterapia
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1808-86942016000100065&lng=en&tlng=en

ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION: Chemotherapy and radiotherapy in oncology have repercussions in hearing health, and can damage structures of the inner ear. These repercussions usually, result in a bilateral and irreversible hearing loss. OBJECTIVE: To identify sensorineural hearing loss cases with complaints of tinnitus and difficulty in speech understanding and investigate their relationship with the types of chemotherapy and radiotherapy the patients received. METHODS: Cross-sectional, clinical, observational, analytical, historical cohort study of 58 subjects treated in a public hospital in the state of Sergipe, diagnosed with neoplasia. The subjects were submitted to anamnesis, conventional pure tone audiometry, and speech recognition threshold. RESULTS: Of the 116 ears, 25.9% presented sensorioneural hearing loss characterized by changes in high frequencies. There was a positive correlation between hearing loss and the association of chemotherapy and radiotherapy ( p = 0.035; R = 0.196). The auditory complaint analysis shows that most of the subjects had tinnitus and speech understanding difficulty, even with a normal auditory threshold. CONCLUSIONS: Cancer treatment causes hearing loss, associated with the administration of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Cyclophosphamide increased the risk of causing hearing loss. Complaints of tinnitus and speech understanding difficulty were observed.