Treatment for Thyroid Eye Disease May Impair Hearing

Increased risk of hearing impairment such as hearing loss or muffled hearing from a new treatment for thyroid eye disease is found to affect 65 per cent of patients taking teprotumumab as per a study presented virtually at ENDO 2021, the Endocrine Society's annual meeting. Teprotumumab is the first and only drug to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in January 2020 for thyroid eye disease. Although little evidence exist on the rate of otologic symptoms in 10 percent of patients, the present study found that the rate could be as high as 65%.

Teprotumumab is an effective therapy for thyroid eye disease. Significant improvement is observed by the weekly thrice (total of eight) infusions treatment in the abnormal protrusion of the eyes (proptosis), double vision, soft tissue inflammation and quality of life.

Thyroid eye disease is an autoimmune disease in which the eye muscles and fatty tissue behind the eye become inflamed. Symptoms can include dry, watery, red or bulging eyes, a "stare," double vision, difficulty closing the eyes, and problems with vision. It is primarily associated with an overactive thyroid gland due to Graves' disease.

Hearing Loss as a Side Effect of Teprotumumab

The study team evaluated the incidence of hearing symptoms in patients treated with teprotumumab on 26 patients who had at least four infusions of the drug. Seventeen patients (65 per cent) complained of otologic symptoms when questioned.

The most common symptoms were subjective hearing loss (n=6, 23 per cent), tinnitus, or ringing in the ears (n=7, 27 per cent), ear plugging sensation (n=3, 12 per cent), and autophony, an unusually loud hearing of a person's own voice (29 per cent). Otologic symptoms developed after an average of 3.6 infusions.

Worsening sensorineural hearing loss, a type of hearing loss resulting from damaged hair cells in the inner ear was seen in four patients among the 17 patients with new hearing symptoms.

Thus the study raises the awareness on the incidence of otologic symptoms & recommends screening precautions, such as baseline audiogram testing to better understand this potential side effect and evaluate the risk factors for hearing loss and the reversibility of symptoms.

Source-Medindia