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Intratympanic N-Acetylcysteine for Prevention of Cisplatin-induced Ototoxicity.

Intratympanic N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) Injections for Prevention of Cisplatin-induced Ototoxicity in Head and Neck Cancer Patients: A Multi-centre Phase II Randomized Controlled Trial.

Status
UNKNOWN
Phases
Phase 1Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT04291209
Enrollment
80
Registered
2020-03-02
Start date
2020-02-26
Completion date
2024-05-01
Last updated
2023-09-06

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Ototoxic Hearing Loss

Keywords

Hearing Loss, Deafness, Cisplatin-induced Ototoxicity, Sensorineural hearing loss, Ear diseases, Antioxidant, N-acetyl cystein

Brief summary

Although many intratympanic agents have been attempted, N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) appears to be the most promising and is a powerful, commonly used anti-oxidant. The goal of this prospective phase 2 randomized controlled trial is to determine the optimal dosage and effectiveness of intratympanic NAC injection in reducing hearing loss in head & neck cancer patients receiving cisplatin chemotherapy with curative intent.

Detailed description

A prospective randomized controlled trial phase 1 using a standard 3+3 design, followed by a randomized controlled phase 2 to determine dosage, safety, and efficacy of intratympanic NAC to treat hearing loss in head & neck patients receiving high-dose cisplatin chemotherapy. Participants will complete various pre-treatment hearing tests. One ear will be randomly chosen for the experimental treatment and the other ear will serve as the control ear. Participants will receive intratympanic NAC injections 60 minutes prior to their scheduled chemotherapy sessions in the experimental ear. The control ear will not receive any injection. Follow up hearing tests will be performed 2 months following completion of their primary cancer treatment.

Interventions

DRUGN-Acetyl Cysteine

One ear will be randomly chosen for the experimental treatment of intratympanic NAC. The other ear will serve as the control ear which will not receive any injection.

Sponsors

Toronto Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Centre
CollaboratorOTHER
London Regional Cancer Program, Canada
CollaboratorOTHER
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Advanced stage head and neck cancer * Receiving high dose systemic cisplatin (100mg/m2) with concurrent radiation therapy as part of their curative intent treatment * Willing to provide informed consent * ECOG performance status 0-2 * Histological confirmation of squamous cell carcinoma

Exclusion criteria

* Age less than 18 * Metastatic disease * Tympanic membrane perforation or the presence of tympanostomy tubes as this may impact the retention and absorption of NAC when inserted into the middle ear * Preexisting severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss (unilateral or bilateral) * Pretreatment interaural discrepancy of greater than 10dB at three frequencies * History of Meniere's or fluctuating hearing loss * Previous hypersensitivity to NAC * Patient unable to follow the protocol for any reason

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Determination of a safe and tolerable dosage for intratympanic NAC injectionWithin 1 dayThe primary end-point of the phase 1 part of this study is the safety and tolerability of intratympanic NAC injections, by determining the causality of adverse events and serious adverse events and grading according to National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) v.5.0
Improvement in hearing threshold with intratympanic NAC injectionWithin 2 monthsThe primary outcome measure of this study will be a comparison of hearing loss between the control and NAC-injected ears. More specifically, each ear will be scored as having hearing loss if there is a greater than 10dB hearing loss in three contiguous frequencies. This will be measured via threshold hearing tests.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Improvement in hearing quality with intratympanic NAC injectionWithin 2 monthsThe secondary outcome measure of this study will be a comparison of hearing discrimination, subjective tinnitus, otoacoustic emission, speech spatial and quality of hearing between the control and NAC-injected ears.

Countries

Canada

Contacts

Primary ContactVaria Sajeniouk
varia.sajeniouk@sunnybrook.ca1-416-480-6100

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026