Open AccessHydrogen–oxygen therapy can alleviate radiotherapy-induced hearing loss in patients with nasopharyngeal cancer
Author(s) -
Jibing Chen,
Xiangdong Kong,
Feng Mu,
Tianyu Lu,
Duanming Du,
Kang Xu
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
annals of palliative medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.546
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 2224-5839
pISSN - 2224-5820
DOI - 10.21037/apm.2019.11.18
Subject(s) - medicine , radiation therapy , nasopharyngeal cancer , hearing loss , cancer , oxygen therapy , intensive care medicine , audiology , surgery , nasopharyngeal carcinoma
Three patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma developed binaural secretory otitis media 12, 2, and 0.5 years after radiotherapy, respectively. The secretions subsided after conventional drug and drainage treatments, but hearing continued to deteriorate until severe loss was documented in both ears. After examination of the eardrum and tympanum, patients were enrolled in a clinical trial in the first half of 2019 (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03818347). After 0.5, 1 and 2 months of continuous hydrogen-oxygen therapy, our first three patients reported different levels of improvement in binaural hearing. This is the first report to show that, after treatment for nasopharyngeal carcinoma, hearing loss can be alleviated using hydrogen-oxygen therapy.