HEARING DISABILITY BEFORE AND AFTER RADIOTHERAPY FOR NASOPHARYNGEAL CARCINOMA

Citation
Wk. Low et al., HEARING DISABILITY BEFORE AND AFTER RADIOTHERAPY FOR NASOPHARYNGEAL CARCINOMA, Journal of Laryngology and Otology, 110(2), 1996, pp. 121-123
Citations number
10
Categorie Soggetti
Otorhinolaryngology
ISSN journal
00222151
Volume
110
Issue
2
Year of publication
1996
Pages
121 - 123
Database
ISI
SICI code
0022-2151(1996)110:2<121:HDBAAR>2.0.ZU;2-L
Abstract
This paper evaluates post-irradiation hearing changes in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) from a disability orientated approach, which takes into account binaural hearing. Newly diagnosed patients w ith NPC were studied before radiotherapy, and at four to 12 months (me an 9.2 months) after radiotherapy, provided they remained disease-free . Each patient was examined clinically and with pure tone audiograms. Tympanometry was used to confirm middle ear effusion. Averaged hearing thresholds over 0.5, 1 and 2 kHz were evaluated. If abnormal (>30 dB) , the resultant hearing disability was illustrated by a modified Glasg ow Plot. Twenty-three males and 10 females completed the study. Middle ear effusions resulted in 39.3 per cent (binaural in two patients) an d 33.3 per cent (binaural in five patients) of patients having hearing disability pre- and post-irradiation respectively. No patient had hea ring disability as a result of a sensorineural loss. It is recommended that future reporting of post-irradiation hearing changes in patients with NPC, as in middle ear surgery, be considered from a disability-o rientated approach.