[Cisplatin-induced hearing loss in children in relation to eye color].

Background: Cisplatin is commonly used as a chemotherapeutic agent in the treatment of solid tumors. Ototoxicity is an important side-effect. Melanin in the inner ear either plays an otoprotective role or has a negative influence on hearing.

[Model oriented assessment of literacy performance in children with cochlear implants].

Background: Although most hearing-impaired children lag behind normally hearing children in literacy acquisition, this aspect has hardly been addressed in the evaluation of language acquisition after cochlear implantation. The present study investigated written language abilities in 8 school-age children with cochlear implants. Neurolinguistic dual-route-models of written language processing indicate that literacy acquisition leads to the establishment of two distinct reading and writing strategies: a lexical one for the quick processing of known words and a sublexical one for decoding unfamiliar words or nonwords letter by letter.

[The "Muenster classification" of high frequency hearing loss following cisplatin chemotherapy].

Background: Slight high frequency hearing loss following cisplatin chemotherapy can be proof of an ototoxic effect even when hearing ability is not yet clinically affected. To answer scientific questions, such as the relationship between cisplatin ototoxicity and drug regime or individual tolerance, early detection of ototoxicity and a classification relating to intensity and the affected frequencies are required. A search for relevant literature resulted the WHO-classification (1991) describing clinically relevant hearing loss and two high frequency hearing loss classifications published by Khan et al.

Continuous or repeated prolonged cisplatin infusions in children: a prospective study on ototoxicity, platinum concentrations, and standard serum parameters.

Background: To overcome the ototoxicity of cisplatin, single bolus infusions were replaced by repeated prolonged infusions of lower doses or by continuous infusions at still lower infusion rates. However, considering ototoxicity little is, in fact, known about the tolerance of repeated prolonged or continuous infusion in children.

Procedure: Auditory function was monitored along with plasma concentrations of free and total platinum (Pt), and with standard serum parameters (sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphate, chloride, and creatinine) in 24 children receiving cisplatin by continuous infusion for the treatment of neuroblastoma and osteosarcoma or by repeated 1 or 6 hr infusions for the treatment of germ cell tumors.

Dynamics of auditory plasticity after cochlear implantation: a longitudinal study.

Human representational cortex may fundamentally alter its organization and (re)gain the capacity for auditory processing even when it is deprived of its input for more than two decades. Stimulus-evoked brain activity was recorded in post-lingual deaf patients after implantation of a cochlear prosthesis, which partly restored their hearing. During a 2 year follow-up study this activity revealed almost normal component configuration and was localized in the auditory cortex, demonstrating adequacy of the cochlear implant stimulation.

Hearing function in soft tissue sarcoma patients after treatment with carboplatin: a report from the Late Effects Surveillance System.

The aim of this study was to analyse carboplatin-induced ototoxicity in a recent study trial. Twenty patients who had received carboplatin for the treatment of soft tissue sarcoma were investigated prospectively for ototoxicity in a multi-centre trial. Hearing function was tested by audiometry.

[The use of melatonin as an alternative to sedation in children undergoing brainstem audiometry].

Background: Though one of the most important investigations in paediatric audiology, brainstem evoked response audiometry (BERA) often necessitates sedation or general anaesthetics, especially in newborn and infants. In paediatric neurology, melatonin has been successfully used for some years to induce sleep prior to EEG investigations. Melatonin as a hormone regulating the circadian rhythm induces natural sleep without the risks of sedation.