Dr. Kathleen Campbell: A Career Dedicated to Protecting Ears

When I first read about Dr. Kathleen Campbell's work about 15 years ago, I was blown away. She was testing the use of an anti-oxidant called D-methionine (D-met) in protecting the inner ear from the damaging effects of needed but toxic chemotherapy agents. So often our patients ask if there is a pill to take away their tinnitus or repair their hearing loss, and most of the time the answer is no. There is no FDA approved drug to prevent or treat hearing loss or tinnitus. Dr. Campbell has made her life's work studying ototoxicity (poisoning of the hearing and balance mechanism) and the potential of pharmaceuticals in preventing and managing hearing loss.

Soldiers are exposed to a barrage of potentially damaging noises, and so hearing loss and tinnitus are among the most common injuries sustained in military service.

Ototoxicity has many sources, including chemotherapy medications such as cisplatin, IV aminoglycoside antibiotics and excessive levels of noise. What if we could provide "ear armor" ahead of time to protect against the damaging agents? What if we could treat the ear immediately following exposure and "rescue" the ear from permanent damage?

Imagine the people that might be helped!

• How wonderful it would be if cancer patients could be protected from potential treatment side effects of hearing loss or balance problems, at a time they so need to be able to communicate.
• Do no harm! But sometimes treatments do unavoidable harm. It would be amazing if the heavy-duty IV antibiotics used to treat tuberculosis and cystic fibrosis could be stopped from doing collateral damage to the ear.
• Exposure to intense noise is ototoxic. Soldiers are exposed to a barrage of potentially damaging noises, and so hearing loss and tinnitus are among the most common injuries sustained in military service.

Bringing oto-protective medication to market is a work in progress. Dr. Campbell has been testing protocols and collecting data for many years. Studies thus far show that D-met can provide almost complete protection for cisplatin-induced hearing loss. Important to note, it shows no anti-tumor interference with the cancer therapy. The idea is that oto-protection must protect normal cells, but not cancer cells.

Noise-induced hearing loss is an enormous problem in the military. The Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs spend somewhere between $2 and 4 billion a year on noise related hearing injury. Soldiers with hearing loss have trouble locating where the enemy is coming from and communicating in high background-noise levels. It's the most common disability in the military. It is not surprising that the DoD has funded Dr. Campbell's clinical trials to assess the safety and efficacy of D-met in protecting ears from long term hearing damage.

At this time we cannot walk into our pharmacy with a prescription for oto-protective medication. But it is exciting to know what's in the works, and will soon help patients in treatment, soldiers protecting us, and even ordinary citizens exposed to high levels of sound.

Dr. Campbell has dedicated her career to protecting ears – it is exciting and incredibly useful work.