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Published on: March 16, 2018
Distortion product otoacoustic emissions test is useful in children undergoing cisplatin treatment
René Toral-Martiñón1, Paul Shkurovich-Bialik, Miguel Angel Collado-Corona
1Departamento de Investigación en Audiología y Neurofisiología, Instituto de la Comunicación Humana, Centro Nacional de Rehabilitación, Secretaría de Salud, Mexico City, Mexico. toralm@latinmail.com
Insights
Distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) effectively detect cisplatin-induced hearing loss in children. This objective method is valuable for monitoring chemotherapy patients, offering a simpler alternative to traditional audiometry.
Area of Science:
- Ototoxicity research
- Pediatric audiology
- Chemotherapy adverse effects
Background:
- Cisplatin chemotherapy is associated with ototoxicity, causing hearing loss.
- Assessing cisplatin-induced hearing loss in pediatric patients presents challenges.
- Need for reliable and objective hearing assessment methods in children undergoing cisplatin therapy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the diagnostic validity of distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) against pure tone audiometry (PTA).
- To evaluate DPOAEs as a tool for detecting hearing loss in children receiving cisplatin treatment.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective review of 26 pediatric patients (ages 2-15) undergoing cisplatin therapy.
- Simultaneous collection of pure tone audiometry (PTA) and distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) data.
- Total of 29 study sets analyzed, with three subjects assessed twice.
Main Results:
- Distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) demonstrated high diagnostic specificity (0.97) at a 4 dB SPL difference cutoff.
- Pure tone audiometry (PTA) had a 45 dB HL cutoff.
- Sensitivity for DPOAEs was 0.57, indicating its strength in identifying hearing impairment.
Conclusions:
- Distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) are a highly valuable tool for assessing cisplatin-induced hearing loss in children.
- DPOAEs provide a quick, objective, and child-friendly hearing assessment, requiring minimal patient cooperation.
- This method aids in the early detection and management of ototoxicity in pediatric cancer patients.
Background:
Cisplatin is a widely used chemotherapy agent that has several adverse effects, such as ototoxicity. Evaluation of hearing loss due to cisplatin therapy in children is difficult. The purpose of this study was to compare the validity of distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) with pure tone audiometry (PTA) in assessing hearing loss in children under cisplatin therapy.
Methods:
We reviewed the files of 26 children aged between 2 and 15 years; 14 were girls. All were under treatment with cisplatin for malignancy. PTA and DPOAEs were obtained at the same session. Three subjects were studied twice; thus, there were 29 sets of studies.
Results:
Determining a cut-off point at 45 dB HL for PTA and 4 dB SPL difference for DPOAEs, diagnostic specificity for the latter was 0.97 while sensitivity was 0.57.
Conclusions:
DPOAEs represent a highly valuable test for evaluating hearing loss due to cisplatin treatment. DPOAEs is a quick and objective hearing assessment method not requiring much cooperation from children.
