Hydrogen Therapy Improves Hearing Loss After Cancer Radiation Treatment
- Authors
- Xiaofeng Kong, Tianyu Lu, You-Yong Lu, Zhinan Yin, Kecheng Xu
- Journal
- Frontiers in Medicine
- Year
- 2022
- DOI
- 10.3389/fmed.2022.828370
- Study Type
- Human
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- China
- Health Condition
- Radiation-Induced Hearing Loss
- Body System
- Auditory System
TL;DR
Breathing in hydrogen gas may help improve hearing loss in patients who have survived nasopharyngeal cancer and undergone radiotherapy.
Key Finding
After 4 weeks of hydrogen inhalation therapy, patients with radiation-induced hearing loss showed statistically significant improvements in eustachian tube dysfunction scores and both air and bone conduction hearing thresholds, with continued improvement observed at 12 weeks.
Summary
This study looked at whether breathing hydrogen gas could help 17 patients with hearing loss caused by radiation treatment for nasopharyngeal cancer (a type of throat cancer). After 4 weeks of hydrogen inhalation, patients showed improvements in hearing thresholds (the quietest sounds they could detect) and eustachian tube function (the tube that connects the ear to the throat). These improvements continued over 12 weeks, and no serious side effects were reported.
Practical Takeaway
This small preliminary study suggests hydrogen inhalation may be safe and potentially helpful for hearing loss caused by cancer radiation treatment, but it involved only 17 patients and lacked a control group for comparison. Much larger and more rigorous studies are needed before hydrogen inhalation can be considered an established treatment for radiation-induced hearing loss.
Abstract (excerpt)
ObjectiveTo evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of hydrogen inhalation in improving hearing loss in patients with long-term survival of nasopharyngeal carcinoma after radiotherapy.MethodsThe eustachian tube dysfunction score, pure tone air conduction threshold, bone conduction threshold…