Is routine audiometric evaluation necessary in gynaecologic tumour patients undergoing chemotherapy?

BACKGROUND Our objective was to assess the auditory function of gynaecological tumour patients who had received cytotoxic agents and to determine their associated risk of ototoxicity. PATIENTS AND METHODS 87 patients who had undergone chemotherapy for gynaecological malignancies were investigated. Of these patients, 79% had breast cancer, and 14% ovarian cancer. All of the patients had a subjective assessment of their hearing function on a visual analogue scale. Audiometric tests were performed before and at 9 weeks, 18 weeks and 3 months after completion of chemotherapy. RESULTS The age of the patients ranged from 32 to 71 years (mean age of 53.5 ± 10.5 years). The average subjective rating of the patients' hearing function was 83.0 ± 17.2 before and 84.8 ± 16.9 3 months after completion of chemotherapy. No significant audiometric change at either the speech hearing frequency range (0.5-2 KHz) or high frequencies was observed in the patients after chemotherapy. There was also no significant difference in the hearing threshold of the patients who had received platinum analogue-based chemotherapy compared to non-platinum analogue-based chemotherapy. CONCLUSION Hearing loss is uncommon in patients treated with the typical gynaecological chemotherapy protocols. Hence, routine audiometric testing in these patients is not necessary.