title: Radiation therapy and hearing loss.
abstract: A review of literature on the development of sensorineural hearing loss after high-dose radiation therapy for head-and-neck tumors and stereotactic radiosurgery or fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy for the treatment of vestibular schwannoma is presented. Because of the small volume of the cochlea a dose-volume analysis is not feasible. Instead, the current literature on the effect of the mean dose received by the cochlea and other treatment- and patient-related factors on outcome are evaluated. Based on the data, a specific threshold dose to cochlea for sensorineural hearing loss cannot be determined; therefore, dose-prescription limits are suggested. A standard for evaluating radiation therapy-associated ototoxicity as well as a detailed approach for scoring toxicity is presented.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, Florida 32610, USA.
authors.forename: Niranjan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bhandare
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.forename: Avraham
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Eisbruch
authors.forename: Charlie C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Flickinger
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Antonelli
authors.forename: William M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Mendenhall
mesh_terms: D003051:Cochlea / Q000528:radiation effects; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D009464:Neuroma, Acoustic / Q000601:surgery*; D016634:Radiosurgery / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods; D011878:Radiotherapy / Q000009:adverse effects; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage