The cancer drug cisplatin can save children’s lives, but often with the side effect of hearing loss. Now a new study shows that young children are especially vulnerable, and the hearing damage may begin early in the course of treatment.
The researchers said the findings highlight the need to screen kids’ hearing during each round of cisplatin treatment, to catch problems early.
“Cisplatin is the drug of choice for treating solid tumors in children,” said Bruce Carleton, senior researcher on the study and director of the Pharmaceutical Outcomes Program at BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, Canada.
“Solid” tumors are those that form as solid masses, and typically arise in organs (as opposed to the blood or lymph system). Some of the most common in children include cancers of the brain and spinal cord, neuroblastoma (which affects nerve cells) and osteosarcoma (a type of bone cancer).
For them, cisplatin can be life-saving. The problem, Carleton said, is that up to 60% of children treated with the drug develop some degree of hearing loss.
Cisplatin contains platinum, a heavy metal, and research has shown that it can be retained in the cochlea—the part of the inner ear that enables hearing.
In the new study, Carleton’s team found that children under 6 years of age were particularly susceptible to developing cisplatin-induced hearing loss over time.
Source: Tough choices: Chemo that can save kids with cancer can also damage hearing
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