[Monitoring of auditory function in comatose patients in therapy with potentially ototoxic substances using...

Brain-stem auditory evoked potentials were measured in 14 comatose patients treated with aminoglycosides in cases of bronchopulmonary infection. Patients treated with tobramycin showed little influences on the latencies of wave 1, whereas treatment with amikacin resulted in enhanced wave 1 latencies even after completion of therapy. These changes were observed with therapeutic plasma levels of the aminoglycosides in all cases. As a method of bedside monitoring of auditory function with no additional stress to the patient with immediate results monitoring brain-stem auditory evoked potentials is recommended as a routine method to control auditory function in comatose patients under administration of aminoglycosides.