Brief Communication: Severe Immuno-Induced Rhinosinusitis With Deafness After Ipilimumab and Nivolumab Combination for Melanoma, and Review of the Literature.

Abstract

Immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) is widely used to treat cancers, and reports of rare immune-related adverse events (irAEs) are increasing. Ear, nose, and throat (ENT) irAEs are often underestimated, as patients rarely report rhinorrhea and most cases of sinusitis are asymptomatic, detected only during tumor CT assessments. We report a rare case of severe rhinosinusitis with hearing loss after ipilimumab and nivolumab combination therapy for melanoma. Due to steroid dependency, the patient was successfully treated with intravenous infliximab but was left with residual deafness. Physicians should be aware of these potentially serious ENT complications, which can affect quality of life, to allow timely referral to an ENT specialist. In severe cases, multidisciplinary care is needed to consider steroid-sparing treatments such as infliximab.