[Neurological impairment in children with HIV infection].

We retrospectively checked 53 paediatric patients suffering from infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) registered in our Centre between the years 1987 and 1993, and evaluated the appearance of HIV encephalopathy. We noted important neurological signs in eleven patients (20.7%) ten of whom had HIV infection via vertical transmission and one as a result of contamination from haemoderivatives. In this review we give a detailed description of neurological signs, the moment of onset of these signs and their possible relationship with the state of the HIV infection. We also analyzed the resulting neuroradiological findings as well as any abnormalities in cerebrospinal fluid. Follow-up period ranged from one month to two and a half years from the moment of onset of the appearance of encephalopathy. Although most of our patients showed a clear improvement after oral or intravenous treatment with zidovudine, this improvement generally proved to be short-lived. The mortality rate in our HIV encephalopathy series was 81.8%, this figure being reached two and a half years after encephalopathy. The appearance of neurological signs in HIV patients therefore represents a very gloomy prognostic factor in the evolution of the disease.