Nature and incidence of misonidazole-produced ototoxicity.

Misonidazole, a potent new antitumor agent that selectively increases the effect of ionizing radiations on poorly oxygenated tumor tumor cells, was given to 21 patients at New York University-Bellevue Medical Center. In 11 of the 21 patients, hearing loss developed secondary to drug ingestion. In all cases the hearing loss was sensorineural, of cochlear origin, and at least partially reversible. There did not seem to be a relationship between degree of hearing loss and age, sex, dose, anatomic site of lesion, or prior hearing loss.