[Efficacy of intratympanic infiltration of N-acetyl cysteine in cisplatin ototoxicity].

Introduction: Currently there is no approved preventive or therapeutic pharmacological treatment to treat ototoxicity caused by cisplatin. N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) is a safe and inexpensive antioxidant that has been studied as an otoprotective alternative.

Objective: To describe the efficacy of intratympanic infiltration of NAC as prevention and treatment of ototoxicity induced in patients treated with cisplatin.

Material And Methods: Open, longitudinal, prospective, randomized clinical trial in cancer patients treated with cisplatin who met the inclusion criteria. Out of the sample of 22 patients, 11 underwent intratympanic NAC infiltration and 11 were taken as a control group. It was performed an audiometry at the beginning and one month after on all patients.

Results: A sample of 22 patients with a mean age of 53 (±13) was collected. In our sample of 11 patients with infiltration in both ears, 1 ear showed improvement; on the other hand, in the control group that was not infiltrated, 4 showed an increase in hearing loss from mild to moderate in all 4 cases, 2 in the left ear and 2 in the right ear (Spearman's Rho = 0.93, p ≤ 0.001). Relative risk was of 1.22.

Conclusions: An association can be observed that intratympanic NAC could become an alternative for the prevention and treatment of cisplatin-induced ototoxicity.