Antibiotics and
Hearing Loss – Researchers found Aspirin can help in preventing Hearing
Loss when taking Aminoglycosides
April 26th, 2006
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The antibiotic
called aminoglycosides are an inexpensive treatment for acute infections
such as tuberculosis and for treatment of cystic fibrosis patients as
well as other conditions. This type of antibiotic has been used for
over 60 years, but one of the side effects of taking this medication is
irreversible hearing loss.
Researchers from
the University of Michigan’s Kresge Hearing Research Institute along
with Chinese colleagues studied how hearing could be preserved while
taking the antibiotic by taking aspirin with the medication. The
complete study has been published in the April 27th, issue of
the New England Journal of Medicine.
The study took
place in China, where 195 patients received intravenously 80 – 160
milligrams of gentamicin. Gentamicin is a type of aminoglycoside. The
patients typically received 2 doses of medicine each day for a duration
typically ranging from 5 – 7 days. They gave 89 of these patients
getting the antibiotic aspirin with the antibiotic. The other 106
patients were given a placebo with the antibiotic. The patients that
had taken a placebo had 13% developing hearing loss, while the patients
that had taken aspirin with the antibiotic only had 3% developing
hearing loss.
"We would like to see the word get around to the medical community
around the world that you can take some precautions to minimize the risk
to your patients. Aspirin is available everywhere, and it's cheap," says
senior author Schacht, professor of biological chemistry in
otolaryngology at the University of Michigan Medical School and director
of the U-M Health System's Kresge Hearing Research Institute.
Gentamicin is not commonly used in the United States. This research
would be the most helpful in developing countries where aminoglycosides
are used more often because they are inexpensive to use and are sold
over the counter.
Schacht said that even though the research shows benefit of preserving
hearing, some practitioners may not recommend aspirin as this would be
an off-label use. Aspirin could have a side effect of gastric bleeding.
He wants to conduct more research with potential drugs that could be
combined with gentamicin that would have fewer side effects than
aspirin.
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