AUDIOLOGICAL FINDINGS IN A PHASE-I PROTOCOL INVESTIGATING THE EFFECT OF WR-2721, HIGH-DOSE CISPLATIN AND RADIATION-THERAPY IN PATIENTS WITHLOCALLY ADVANCED CERVICAL-CARCINOMA

WR 2721 (ethiofos) protects against the toxic effects of the heavy met al compound cisplatin, which is used in the treatment of solid tumours . In a Phase I protocol designed to determine the maximum dose of WR 2 721 which could be tolerated when administered in combination with cis platin and radiation therapy to patients with cervical carcinoma, 11 p atients were evaluated by audiologic testing before and after cisplati n WR 2721 administration in an attempt to identify the degree of ototo xicity. Forty-five per cent were noted to have significant hearing thr eshold changes, predominantly in the high frequencies, There were no s ignificant changes in the speech frequencies in this series. This cont rasts with the greater degrees of ototoxicity observed in controls tre ated in the same way who received cisplatin without WR 2721 protection .