Evaluation of hearing threshold in patients with beta Thalassemic major receiving regular chelation therapy with Desferrioxamine (DFO)

The aim of this study was the evaluation of hearing threshold in patients with beta thalasemia major. For this purpose, 178 patients who were under regular chelation therapy with desferrioxamine (DFO) were selected and underwent ear, nose, throat examinations and audiological evaluations. Patients were between 4 to 25 years old and 54.9% were male and 45.1% were female. Three patients were excluded from the study due to middle ear disease and tympanic membrane perforation. Mean hearing threshold was 12.46 db. The incidence of hearing loss in speech frequencies was 1.8% and there was a correlation between hearing threshold increase and the duration of disease and desferrioxamine consumption. But no correlation was found between hearing threshold and serum ferritin level (Mean 4046 ng/ml) or DFO dose (Mean=38.68 mg/kg/day).