[Ototoxicity of deferoxamine]

Deferoxamine or desferrioxamine (DFO) is a chelating agent, largely used in patients with chronic renal failure, although it has many side effects, being ototoxicity one of them. In this paper we studied the eventually adverse otologic effects of DFO in 20 patients receiving haemodialysis. A complete audiological evaluation, including pure-tone audiometry, brainstem auditory evoked potentials and high-frequency audiometry, was performed. The results showed a sensorineural hearing loss of retrocochlear origin in 3/20 cases (15%). We can accept that ototoxic effects of DFO are minimal, but no inexistent. Because of these we considered highly recommendable an accurate control of hearing in patients with renal disease receiving DFO.