The Protective Effect of Sertraline in Preventing Cisplatininduced Ototoxicity in Solid Organ Chemotherapy

Cisplatin, as a platinum-based chemotherapeutic medication, is applied for various types of solid tumors. Regarding the treatment of cancer cells, cisplatin is potentially accompanied with some side effects such as nephrotoxicity, neurotoxicity, and ototoxicity in spite of high efficacy of Cisplatin. The present study aimed to determine whether the use of oral sertraline can contribute to preserve hearing threshold among the patients who receive cisplatin or not. This research has done for one year, along with a 3 months course and follow-up. This is a double-blind, randomized, and placebo-controlled trial study. The study was conducted in Oncology Clinic and Audiology Department of Firoozgar University Hospital in Tehran, Iran. Among 112 patients, 79 patients who were suffering from different types of solid tumors and were candidates for receiving cisplatin for chemotherapy treatment were selected. The grade of hearing impairment and otoacoustic emission in the first day and the last stage of the study was used for data analysis. Among 112 patients, 79 patients were randomly selected to receive either sertraline (50 mg/d) as the case group, or placebo as the control group. Before and after the treatments, the patients were assessed by High-Frequency Audiometry and dpOAE tests. First, the two groups were distributed homogeneously based on sex and age. Based on Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE), the Ototoxicity Grade indicated a significantly lower grade of deficits in the Sertraline group (p