Platinum-based chemotherapy may not only impact hearing, but that the hearing loss may then contribute to long-term neurocognitive deficits, report neuroscientists in a new report.
More children are surviving malignant brain tumors than in the past, thanks to the use of intense treatments using platinum-based chemotherapy (cisplatin and high-dose carboplatin). Unfortunately, the therapy has a known side effect of permanent hearing loss, resulting from damage to the inner ear. Investigators at Children's Hospital Los Angeles now report that this type of chemotherapy may not only impact hearing, but that the hearing loss may then contribute to long-term neurocognitive deficits.