ABNORMAL BRAIN-STEM AUDITORY EVOKED-POTENTIALS IN INFANTS WITH THREATENED SUDDEN INFANT DEATH SYNDROME

Ten infants with life-threatening apneas and clinical criteria characteristic of the infant at risk for Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) were found to have abnormal brainstem auditory evoked potential BAEP tests. These abnormalities were in contradistinction to normal BAEP results in two infants with apneas secondary to mechanical airway obstruction, in two infants with cyanotic congenital heart disease, and in six normal control infants. BAEP should prove useful in prospectively studying infants with life-threatening apnea, evaluating therapeutic modalities, and possibly as a screening tool to identify infants at risk. The abnormal BAEP implicates the respiratory center and brainstem as the area of dysfunction in SIDS.