Under-fives at most risk of hearing loss from cisplatin: study
Researchers rank risk for different tumour types and identify drugs that compound the odds of ototoxicity
Children aged up to five years have almost double the risk of hearing loss caused by exposure to cisplatin cancer therapies compared with older children, a study shows.
The findings highlight the need for auditory testing at every cycle of cisplatin therapy, say researchers from Canada and the Netherlands.
The study included 2052 hearing assessments from 368 children (48% girls) who had two or more audiological assessments recorded within three years of initiating cisplatin and no hearing loss prior to therapy.
The median age of the cohort was six years at baseline and the median total cumulative dose of cisplatin was 400mg/m2. All children were off cisplatin therapy by the three-year mark.
