Ototoxicity and irradiation: additional etiologies of hearing loss in adults

A brief review of the effects of the seven groups of substances and chemicals known to affect hearing and/or the vestibular system is followed by a more detailed discussion of cisplatin (cisplatinum). An illustrative case study is included that exemplifies a recent finding of some recovery of hearing following withdrawal of cisplatin chemotherapy. Some suggestions for reducing the potential for ototoxicity are also presented. The article continues with a discussion of the effects of irradiation on hearing and the ear and an illustrative case study. Included are some reported results from patients in the Ukraine who were exposed to excessive radiation as a result of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. A discussion of the effects on the ear and the vestibular system caused by the interaction between chemotherapy and irradiation treatment is followed by the warning that, with the recent successes these treatments have had in the war against cancer, more patients with hearing loss triggered by these techniques will be seen in audiology clinics. These factors are now one of the newest and more frequent etiologic factors for hearing loss in adults in this decade.