Methadone Induced Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Table 1

Review of published cases of methadone induced hearing loss.

Year	Authors	Age	Sex	Presentation	Naloxone given?	Substances; Ingested	Associated; conditions	Methadone withheld?	Followup
2009	Van Gaalen et al. [1]	37	M	Nausea, confusion. Deafness upon awakening	Yes	Methadone	Tinnitus, bradypnea	Yes	Complete resolution by day 10
2010	Christenson et al. [2]	30	M	Unresponsive and apneic. Deafness upon awakening in ED following naloxone	Yes	Methadone (large amount), cannabis, alprazolam and oxycodone (small amount)	Respiratory failure, ARDS, bradycardia, and Hypotension	Unknown	Resolution of hearing loss after 24 hours
2010	Christenson et al. [2]	25	F	Unresponsive. Deafness upon awakening	Yes	Methadone, citalopram, cannabis (all large amount), and oxymorphone (moderate amount)	Tachycardia, hypoxia	Yes	Mild improvement of hearing by 4 hours with complete resolution by 24 hours
2011	Shaw et al. [3]	20	M	Stupor following overdose. Deafness upon wakening	Yes	Methadone, alcohol, cannabis	Respiratory failure, leukocytosis, hypernatremia, AKI, and rhabdomyolysis	Yes	Complete resolution by day 4
2012	Vorasubin et al. [4]	23	M	Respiratory arrest. Deafness upon awakening	Unknown	Naltrexone, methadone	Respiratory failure	Unknown	Severe sensorineural hearing loss above 500 Hz persistent after at least 9 months
2013	Saifan et al. (this paper)	31	M	Apnea. Deafness upon awakening	Yes	Methadone, benzodiazepines, and barbiturates	Leukocytosis, fever, AKI, UTI, cellulitis, and aspiration pneumonia	No	Severe sensorineural hearing loss above 250 Hz persistent after at least 2 months