title: A clinical study on the ototoxic effects of tobramycin.
abstract: In a clinical, prospective, non-randomized study, tobramycin has shown its high antibacterial activity in Gram-negative bacillary infections. The incidence of ototoxic side effects was very low: none of 18 patients studied before, at the end and 9 months after completion of tobramycin therapy showed any change in pure tone audiograms. Five of these 18 patients had renal impairment: 3 of them developed subjective and objective evidence of vestibular dysfunction, as demonstrated by caloric vestibulometry. However, these bilateral vestibular lesions all proved to be reversible a few weeks after cessation of therapy. Despite the low incidence and the reversibility of the ototoxic side effects, it seems advisable to monitor patients on long-duration tobramycin therapy for signs of vestibular dysfunction, particularly in cases of renal insufficiency.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004341:Drug Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011552:Pseudomonas Infections / Q000188:drug therapy; D014031:Tobramycin / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014722:Vestibule, Labyrinth / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D014031:Tobramycin