sftd

Anti-epileptic Drug Trimethadione (Tridione®): Potential Treatment for Noise-Induced Hearing Loss

Filed in archive Studies , Treatment on March 20, 2007

Anti-epileptic Drug Trimethadione (Tridione®): Potential Treatment for Noise-Induced Hearing Loss
Soldiers sent to the battlefield often come home with permanent hearing loss due to damage by the boom of explosions.

A research study from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis brings hope of a hearing protection in medicinal form.

That's right, soldiers popping a pill before being sent to war to protect their sense of hearing.

In laboratory mice, two anti-epileptic drugs have been found to significantly prevent permanent hearing loss from exposure to loud noises.

The said study is led by Jianxin Bao, Ph.D., research associate professor of otolaryngology and head of the Central Institute for the Deaf's Presbycusis and Aging Laboratory.

Bao and colleagues found that if they exposed mice to loud sounds and then gave them trimethadione (Tridione®) or ethosuximide (Zarontin®) --anticonvulsive medications used to treat epilepsy -- they could prevent a significant amount of permanent hearing loss. When mice got the medications before noise exposure, only trimethadione, not ethosuximide, significantly reduced subsequent hearing loss.


Potential applications of this finding will not only benefit soldiers for wars but also hunters (whose hearing loss is ofteh on the side where they hold their gun) and pilots (who are especially prone to hearing loss because of the noise in airplane cabins).

Currently, no drug on the market can prevent or treat noise-induced hearing loss while an estimated 30 million people in the United States encounter hazardous levels of noise at work: in particular, jobs such as construction, mining, agriculture, manufacturing, transportation and the military.

In fact, I know somebody who permanently damaged his hearing after years of working around ship engine rooms.

This was just a laboratory animal study, a lot of steps away from regulatory and marketing approval.

Meanwhile, patients in the market wait.

Read the full report.


Permalink: Anti-epileptic Drug Trimethadione (Tridione®): Potential Treatment for Noise-Induced Hearing Loss

Tags: noiseinduced  hearing  loss  antiepileptic  drug  treatment  hearing+loss  noise+induced 

Vote for Anti-epileptic Drug Trimethadione (Tridione®): Potential Treatment for Noise-Induced Hearing Loss:

  • Currently 8.50/10
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
Rating: 8.50 out of 4 vote(s) cast.
 
Share It
RSSrss
Google google
Yahoo! yahoo
Addthis Subscribe using any feed reader!
Bloglines Bloglines
Most Popular   Allergies   Alzheimer's Disease   Arthritis   Bacteria and Bacterial Infections   Best of   Blog Carnivals   Bone Health   Cancer   Cardiovascular Health   Cases   CFS   Consumer Alert   Controversies   Dental Health   Diabetes   Diagnostics   Diarrhea   Did you know   Diet   Dietary Supplements and Vitamins