Neonatal auditory brainstem response cannot reliably diagnose brainstem death

• Published in: Archives of disease in childhood Vol. 60; no. 1; pp. 17 - 19
• Main Authors: Dear, P R, Godfrey, D J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health 01.01.1985; BMJ; BMJ Publishing Group LTD
• Subjects: Anesthesia. Intensive care medicine. Transfusions. Cell therapy and gene therapy; Audiometry - methods; Audiometry, Evoked Response - methods; Biological and medical sciences; Brain Death; Brain Stem - physiopathology; Clinical death. Palliative care. Organ gift and preservation; Female; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Medical sciences; Human; Brain stem; Auditory evoked potential; Brain (Vertebrata); Death; New born; Resuscitation
• ISSN: 0003-9888; 1468-2044
• DOI: 10.1136/adc.60.1.17

In two newborn infants who had experienced severe asphyxial insults, and who showed noticeable signs of brainstem dysfunction, all components of the auditory brainstem response except the eighth nerve potential became undetectable. Both babies survived, their brainstem responses returned, and one of them is judged to be developmentally normal at the age of 18 months. Clinical signs of brainstem dysfunction with complete cessation of conduction in the brainstem auditory pathway cannot be taken, therefore, as a sign of irreversible brainstem damage in the human newborn.