Hearing loss was common in children given platinum chemotherapy
Original title: Incidence, severity, and risk factors of platinum-induced ototoxicity in pediatric oncology patients: A multi-center retrospective study.
How far along is this research?
- Lab cells
- Animals
- Review
- Tested in people
This was tested in people. That is the most reliable kind of research we share.
This looked back at records of children already treated, and tested nothing new.
The short version
Almost half of the children in this study had some hearing loss after platinum chemotherapy.
What was studied. Doctors looked back at the records of 314 children with cancer. All had been treated with cisplatin or carboplatin at three hospitals in South Korea. Each child had hearing tests.
What they found. Hearing loss was found in 146 patients (46.5%). It mostly affected high pitched sounds. Boys, children with medulloblastoma, and children given carboplatin had a higher risk, and so did children found to have cancer before age 11.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: These drugs can harm hearing in children. Regular hearing tests during and after treatment may catch a problem early. Families can ask the care team how often hearing will be checked.
What it doesn't mean: This does not mean these drugs should be stopped. They treat cancer, and this study did not test a new treatment or a cure. The doctors only looked back at old records, so this cannot prove what caused each child's hearing loss. All the children were treated at three hospitals in one country, so results elsewhere may differ.
Source: PubMed, October 13, 2026 · Read the original
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