Monitoring of hearing during treatment of leukaemia with special reference to the use of amikacin.

Thirty-nine patients with leukaemia were followed audiometrically during treatment with broad-spectrum antibiotics. Amikacin was given during neutropenic febrile episodes. Five patients reported a deterioration of the hearing function after termination of amikacin treatment. Significant hearing threshold loss occurred in 20 patients (51%). The hearing threshold changes were small in general, except for two patients who exhibited bilateral hearing threshold changes in the frequency range 0.5-8 kHz. Using multiple linear regression analysis 22% of the changes in hearing thresholds was estimated to be related to old age, an increased trough concentration of amikacin and an impaired pretreatment hearing state. Factors found not to influence the hearing thresholds were maximum peak concentration of amikacin, cumulative duration of therapy, pretreatment renal dysfunction and concomitant use of vancomycin. It is concluded that administration of amikacin for repeated treatment courses is associated with a low incidence of serious changes in hearing function.