Researchers in the U.K. are launching a phase II trial to see if high doses of aspirin can help prevent permanent hearing loss, a common side effect among cancer patients given the chemotherapy drug cisplatin.
The Cancer Research UK trial, called Cisplatin Ototoxicity Attenuated by Aspirin Trial (COAST), is recruiting approximately 88 adult cancer patients who have been prescribed cisplatin at hospitals in Southampton, London, Glasgow, Birmingham, Leeds, Cardiff, Newcastle, Pool, and Bournemouth, according to the University of Southampton.
Cisplatin is a widely used chemotherapy drug for treating testicular, germ cell, head and neck, bladder, cervical, and non-small cell lung cancers, as well as some types of children's cancers.
Approximately 18,500 cancer patients of all ages receive cisplatin each year, and about half experience some form of permanent hearing loss as a side effect of treatment, ranging from tinnitus to some deafness in one or both ears, the university noted.
Half of the patients will be given four daily doses of high-dose aspirin each time they receive the standard cisplatin treatment, starting a day before treatment and continuing for two days subsequently. The remainder will be treated with a placebo for the same four days, with their cisplatin. All patients will be given a hearing test just before starting their treatment and at one week and three months thereafter.
If the trial is successful, a larger phase III trial will follow within two years that could potentially see aspirin become a routine part of cisplatin treatment, said Emma King, MBChB, PhD, chief investigator and Cancer Research UK surgeon at the University of Southampton, in a statement.
