Detection of early ototoxic effect in testicular-cancer patients treated with cisplatin by transiently evoked otoacoustic emission: a pilot study.

The outlook for patients with testicular germ cell cancer was dramatically improved by the introduction of cisplatin. Well-known side effects of cisplatin (nausea, vomiting, nephrotoxicity, myelosuppression) can be managed with preventive methods. The long life expectancy after this therapy draws attention to long-term side effects. The ototoxic side effects were scarcely studied, although nowadays, they can be a dose-limiting side effect of cisplatin. Patients and Methods: As the literature shows, the ototoxic side effects of cisplatin have been studied mostly by conventional methods. The authors used transiently evoked otoacoustic emissions to determine whether the administration of 20 mg/m(2) body surface cisplatin daily (in combination with other antitumor drugs) for 5 days alters the amplitude of the transient otoacoustic emission. Results: The results did not show any significant amplitude change after-20 mg/m(2) cisplatin daily for 5 days, in contrast with other studies that described a broad frequency reduction of the emission amplitude in 30-86% of cases treated with 100 mg/m(2) of cisplatin for 1 day. Conclusion: The authors suggest that between similarly effective regimens, those containing lower daily cisplatin doses should be used.