Auditory brain stem responses in patients with human immunotropic virus infection of different stages.

Thirty patients (26 men, 4 women) with human immunotropic virus infection of different stages were examined. Eleven patients had a history of i.v. drug abuse, nine patients had a history of treated lues infection, and one patient suffered from Kaposi's sarcoma. At the time of the examination, opportunistic infections or acute encephalitis were not apparent in any patient. All patients underwent otoneurological examinations, including pure-tone audiometry, caloric vestibular testing, and recording of the auditory brain stem responses (ABR). Six patients reported onset of hearing impairment during the last 3 yr. Two of them had flat sensorineural hearing loss; in the other cases, pure-tone audiometry showed high tone hearing loss with negative recruitment. ABRs were normal in 19 cases, with the latencies for waves III and V and for the I-V interpeak latency significantly delayed when compared to the values of the control group. The frequency of abnormal ABR findings did not correlate to the stage of the disease. The results of the study indicate that auditory and, more specifically, ABR abnormalities commonly occur in human immunotropic virus disease. More studies are necessary to prove whether the ABR is suitable to monitor therapeutic effects.