Hearing assessment and treatment outcome in ENT tuberculosis at a tertiary hospital in India

Abstract Aim An attempt has been made to observe the response of anti-Koch’s treatment and the effect of anti-Koch’s treatment on hearing in ENT tuberculosis patients by pure tone audiometry. Material and methods A prospective observational study was carried out at the Government Medical College Hospital. A total of 200 cases diagnosed with tuberculosis in the head and neck regions were included in the study. Sputum/pus of patients were sent for cartridge-based nucleic acid amplification test (CBNAAT). Hearing assessment was done with PTA1 at the start of the treatment, PTA2 after the intensive phase (IP) at 2 months for newly diagnosed patients and at 3 months for previously treated patients, and PTA3 at the end of the AKT treatment given as per guidelines. Results Among 200 ENT tuberculosis patients, 176 patients were cured with a new case regimen, and one patient was a defaulter. Among 19 patients who were previously treated cases (CAT II regimen), two patients had treatment failure, and the other 17 patients were cured. Four patients diagnosed to have multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) on the initial drug susceptibility testing (DST) were given 24 months’ treatment according to the recent guidelines of MDR-TB treatment regimen, and the patients were cured. In the present study of 200 patients, in the first PTA, 192 patients had normal hearing; in the second PTA, 106 patients had normal hearing; and in the third PTA, 35 patients had normal hearing. 21.7% of cases who were on aminoglycoside therapy developed significant sensorineural hearing loss in high frequency. Conclusion Anti-Koch’s treatment (AKT) has proven effective in ENT tuberculosis. All patients taking anti-Koch’s treatment should be regularly monitored for hearing loss, adherence to treatment, drug-resistant variants, and local recurrences.