X-Ray Irradiation of the Inner Ear of the Guinea Pig: Early Degenerative Changes in the Cochlea

Risk Factors for Hearing Loss in Patients Treated With Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy for Head-and-Neck Tumors

“…However, at ultra-high frequencies, the effect of RT in the present study was larger than that observed in our highdose cisplatin chemoradiation regimen, because the radiation effect in the CRT regimen might have been masked by the extensive adverse effect of cisplatin at ultra-high frequencies (26). Although radiation-induced vascular insufficiency has been proposed as the etiology of SNHL (27,28), in animal models, radiation and cisplatin both affected similar targets in the cochlea, including hair cells, stria vascularis, and afferent nerve endings, from basal to apical windings with increasing dose (27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33). Hence, it could be that cisplatin reinforces the adverse effects of radiation on the inner ear.…”

Auditory Late Effects of Childhood Cancer Therapy: A Report From the Children's Oncology Group

“…14,16,18,60 This observation is based upon the fact that the cochlea is more sensitive to the effects of radiation than the brain or auditory nerves. 61–65 The basal turn, which encodes high frequencies, is preferentially more sensitive to the effects of radiation than the apical region. 61 Both outer and inner hair cell damage can occur.…”

Sensorineural hearing loss in patients with head and neck cancer after chemoradiotherapy and radiotherapy: A systematic review of the literature

“…Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) can be an adverse event of RT to the head and neck region and is most likely caused by lesions in the cochlea or retrocochlear component of the auditory system . In 1969, Winther described an extensive degeneration of outer hair cells in the organ of Corti in guinea pigs after radiation of the inner ear. Also, in humans, destruction of the organ of Corti and atrophy of the audiovestibular nerve after radiation to the temporal bone have been demonstrated .…”