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Background. Cisplatin is a well known platinum-based chemotherapeutic agent used for the treatment of various malignant tumours. A frequent side effect of cisplatin therapy is ototoxicity. Unfortunately, currently there are no available treatments. Material and Methods. Experimental, clinical studies and reviews published between 2004 and 2014 in the English medical literature concerning ototoxicity were selected using Medline, PubMed, and Google Scholar databases. Inclusion criteria were cisplatin-induced ototoxicity and therapy aimed at preventing or curing this disorder. Molecular mechanisms and clinical, audiological, and histological markers of cisplatin-induced ototoxicity are described. Moreover, experimental and clinical strategies for prevention or treatment of hearing loss were also reviewed. Results and Discussion. Experimental studies demonstrate a wide range of otoprotective molecules and strategies efficient against cisplatin-induced hearing loss. However, only dexamethasone proved a slight otoprotective effect in a clinical study. Conclusion. Further research must be completed to bring future therapeutic options into clinical setting.

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Myringotomy and ventilation tube placement is an office-based procedure and represents the treatment of choice for middle ear effusions and for transtympanic drug administration. The aim of our study was to study the efficiency of low-pressure spray cryotherapy on protraction of patency time of myringotomies in rats. Bilateral myringotomies were performed with cold instruments. Afterward, one ear in each rat was randomly assigned for liquid nitrogen treatment of the perforated eardrum. Myringotomy patency was recorded daily and histological analysis of the eardrums was performed. In the myringotomy group patency time was 4.75 ± 2.93 days, while in the cryotherapy group was 11.01 ± 4.87 days. The difference is statistically significant: Student t test, p \ 0.00001, 95 % CI (-8.82; -3.67). Moreover, according to Kaplan-Meier method, myringotomy survival is significantly longer in the cryotherapy group. The healing processes of the cryotreated eardrums last longer and the patency of myringotomy was longer as compared to untreated myringotomies.

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