Background: Cisplatin is a well known platinum-based chemotherapeutic agent used for the treatment of various malignant tumours. A frequent side effect of cisplatin therapy is ototoxicity. Unfortunately, currently there are no available treatments.
Material and methods: Experimental, clinical studies and reviews published between 2004 and 2014 in the English medical literature concerning ototoxicity were selected using Medline, PubMed, and Google Scholar databases. Inclusion criteria were cisplatin-induced ototoxicity and therapy aimed at preventing or curing this disorder. Molecular mechanisms and clinical, audiological, and histological markers of cisplatin-induced ototoxicity are described. Moreover, experimental and clinical strategies for prevention or treatment of hearing loss were also reviewed.
Results and discussion: Experimental studies demonstrate a wide range of otoprotective molecules and strategies efficient against cisplatin-induced hearing loss. However, only dexamethasone proved a slight otoprotective effect in a clinical study.
Conclusion: Further research must be completed to bring future therapeutic options into clinical setting.