Ototoxicity from cis-platinum in patients with stages III and IV previously untreated squamous cell cancer of the head and neck.

Forty-four patients were evaluated for ototoxicity following treatment with the chemotherapeutic agent cis-platinum. Statistically significant hearing changes at 2,000 Hz (p less than 0.001); 4,000 Hz (p less than 0.05); and 8,000 Hz (p less than 0.001) were observed. Chi-square analysis demonstrated that at 8,000 Hz patients who had lower than average thresholds prior to chemotherapy were more likely to experience greater threshold shift than those patients whose pre-chemotherapy thresholds were higher than average. In this patient sample, there was no significant correlation shown between serum creatinine levels and ototoxicity.