The study, led by scientist from the University of South Florida and Indiana University, examined the long-term effects of one of the most common forms of chemotherapy on people who have overcome cancer.
A study published in the journal JAMA Oncology looked at a cohort of ovarian cancer survivors who received cisplatin-based chemotherapy over a 14-year period and found that 78 percent of them experienced significant difficulties in daily life, negatively affecting their quality of life.
The collaborative study is the first to measure real-world hearing problems and hearing loss in cancer survivors.
“It is important for us to understand the real consequences of patients’ sensory problems. If we understand them, we will be able to develop more effective therapeutic strategies and preventive measures for the long-term improvement of patients’ quality of life,” noted the author of the study, professor Robert Frizina.
Cisplatin is widely used in the chemotherapy of various forms of cancer, including bladder, lung, neck, and ovarian cancer. It is injected intravenously and affects different parts of the body.
However, the ears are particularly vulnerable because they cannot filter the drug, which causes it to linger, the scientists concluded.
This leads to inflammation and destruction of the sensory cells that are crucial for encoding sound, resulting in irreversible hearing loss that can worsen even after cisplatin treatment ends.
