ABR and HIV-induced impairment of the central nervous system

This in vivo study used Auditory Brainstem Responses (ABR) to evaluate nerve transmission integrity in the course of HIV infection. 48 normoacoustic HIV+ patients (40 men, 8 women) and 10 healthy age, sex and risk-factor matched controls underwent Brainstem Evoked Auditory potentials using a standard technique. Potentials were tested at cadences of 11 and 51 stimuli per second. ANOVA and Student's T test were used for inter Center for disease Control (CDC) classes and CDC classes vs control analysis of the values of the principal wave latencies (I, III, V) and interpeak intervals (I-III, III-V, I-V). Significant impairments in nerve transmission, shown best at the 51 pps cadence, were present from the earliest stages of HIV infection and worsened as the disease progressed. These results suggest that the upper part of the brainstem may be the main target of involvement in the tract being tested. Since electrophysiological tests allow detection of nervous dysfunction in subjects while still asymptomatic, these procedures could be usefully employed in order to better define the real onset of brain damage in HIV-1 seropositive patients and monitor the speed with which these lesions evolve.