*PENNY* & *PAM* Aspirin Prevents Antibiotic-Linked Hearing Loss

[Guest guest]

Health Day

By Preidt

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

WEDNESDAY, April 26 (Health Day

News) -- Aspirin can help prevent hearing loss caused by common antibiotics

called aminoglycosides, a new report finds.

Aminoglycosides are inexpensive antibiotics that have been used for the past

60 years to treat acute infections, cystic fibrosis, tuberculosis and other

conditions. However, their use has also been linked to irreversible hearing

loss.

As reported by a U.S.-Chinese

team in the April 27 issue of the New England

Journal of Medicine, the study included 195 Chinese patients who received 80 milligrams to 160 milligrams of gentamicin

(a type of aminoglycoside) intravenously,

twice daily, for five to seven days. Of those 195 patients, 89 received aspirin

along with the antibiotic and

106 were given a placebo along with the antibiotic.

The rate of hearing

loss among patients who received aspirin was 3 percent, compared with 13

percent among the patients who received the placebo. That translates to a 75

percent lower rate of hearing loss among patients who received aspirin.

" We would like to see the

word get around to the medical community around the world that you can take

some precautions to minimize the risk to your patients. Aspirin is available

everywhere, and it's cheap, " study senior author Jochen

Schacht, a professor of biological chemistry in otolaryngology, University of

Michigan (U-M) Medical School, said in a prepared statement.

This study builds on previous

U-M research in animals.

" Previously, we found that

such a treatment works well in mice, but I am very excited that this worked so

well in humans. Translating animal studies into clinical practice is not an

easy thing to do. We were fortunate that our extrapolation from mice to men and

women worked in the first trial, " said Schacht, who is director of the U-M

Health System's Kresge Hearing Research Institute.

Barb

in Texas - Together in the Fight, Whatever it Takes!

Son

Ken (32) UC 91 - PSC 99

[Guest guest]

NOW you tell me! Actually, I lost only the two uppermost ranges of

hearing bilaterally. According to the ENT, they would be crucial to a

musician, but not to me since I simply play the stereo. I have a

theory about the fact that my kidneys were spared -- I have been a

water drinker since childhood. That may have helped...........

Penny

> Health Day

>

> By Preidt

>

> Wednesday, April 26, 2006

> WEDNESDAY, April 26 (Health Day News) -- Aspirin can help prevent

> hearing loss caused by common antibiotics called aminoglycosides, a new

> report finds.