title: Hearing loss and complaint in patients with head and neck cancer treated with radiotherapy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate occurrences of hearing loss and hearing complaints among patients with head and neck tumors who underwent radiotherapy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective case-control study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Tertiary care hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred eighty-two participants underwent evaluation, including 141 with head and neck tumors and 141 as an age-matched control group. The controls had never undergone oncological treatment that put their hearing at risk.
  
  
  METHODS
  Results of audiological evaluation, including the Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly questionnaire and pure-tone, speech, and immittance audiometry, and radiation dose received by the auditory system (based on the percentage of the external auditory canal included in the radiation field).
  
  
  RESULTS
  We observed occurrences of hearing loss in 102 (72.3%) of the participants exposed to radiotherapy and 69 (48.9%) of the control group (P < .001). Hearing losses were mostly sensorineural and of mild degree, but those exposed to radiotherapy more frequently presented with severe and mixed-type hearing losses (P < .001). Of the participants exposed to radiotherapy, 19.1% had a severe handicap (P < .001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients undergoing radiotherapy in the head and neck region have a higher incidence of hearing loss and more severe hearing handicap. Trial Registration  clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01102621.
authors.affiliation: Department of Audiology, Hospital do Câncer A. C. Camargo, Rua Professor Antonio Prudente 211, São Paulo, Brazil. chris_schultz1@yahoo.com.br
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schultz
authors.forename: Maria Valéria Schmidt
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Goffi-Gomez
authors.forename: Patrícia Helena
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Pecora Liberman
authors.forename: Antonio Cássio de Assis
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Pellizzon
authors.forename: André Lopes
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Carvalho
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires