Platinum-drugs ototoxicity in pediatric patients with brain tumors. A 10-years review.

Abstract

There has been progress in survival for children diagnosed with central nervous system tumors overall. Improved survival rate in distinct types of central nervous system tumors is due to early diagnosis, improvement in neurosurgical techniques, use of radiotherapy, supportive care and chemotherapy. With the increased of the survival, it is important to study the side effects of tumor therapies, since they will live longer with these detrimental effects of quality of life. Nevertheless, in developed countries, cancer is the second cause of death in this age group (11.9%), only being overcome by unintentional injuries-accidents (35.9%). Late neurologic complications observed in survivors diagnosed with brain tumors include new onset of seizures, weakness in arms and legs, blindness and hearing loss. This hearing loss is the one of the most known effects of platinum drugs together with nephrotoxicity and neurotoxicity. Despite this, they are extremely used in many effective therapeutic protocols because of their excellent efficacy in the treatment of brain tumors. There is a great variability in the reported incidence of hearing loss following the administration of platinum drugs. The incidence reports ranges from 4% to 80% depending on the stud. Since there is a wide range of incidence values that differ so much from study to study, a 10-year retrospective study was carried out in children with brain tumors who underwent therapeutic protocols with platinum drugs at Centro Hospitalar São João, in Oporto, to determine the incidence of ototoxicity in these patients.