Auditory brainstem responses in children treated with cisplatin

In view of improvement in therapeutic outcome of cancer treatment in children resulting in increased survival rates and the importance of hearing in speech and language development, this research project was intended to assess the effects of cisplatin group on hearing ability in children aged 6 months to 12 years. In this cross-sectional study, hearing of 10 children on cisplatin group medication for cancer who met the inclusion criteria was examined by recording auditory brainstem responses (ABR) using the three stimulants of click and 4 and 8 kHz tone bursts. All children were examined twice: before drug administration and within 72 hours after receiving the last dose. Then the results were compared with each other. There was a significant difference between hearing thresholds before and after drug administration (p<0.05). Right and left ear threshold comparison revealed no significant difference. Ototoxic effects of cisplatin group were confirmed in this study. Insignificant difference observed in comparing right and left ear hearing thresholds could be due to small sample size. auditory brainstem responses test especially with frequency specificity proved to be a useful method in assessing cisplatin ototoxicity.