Clinical application of auditory brainstem response in hand-foot-mouth disease

Objective To explore the clinical application of auditory brainstem response(ABR) in patients with hand-foot-mouth disease(HFMD).Methods Two hundred(200) ordinary inpatients with HFMD and 100 patients with severe HFMD were included in this study and their ABR were measured and the patients with positive results were followed up.Results In 200 ordinary patients,177 showed normal ABR,9 presented abnormal hearing threshold and 14 showed brainstem dysfunction.Among 100 severe HFMD patients,19 showed abnormal hearing threshold and 60 showed brainstem dysfunction.Ten of 14 ordinary patients with brainstem dysfunction progressed to severe HFMD and their ABR returned to normal in 2 weeks.Nineteen severe HFMD patients with abnormal hearing threshold and 37 of 60 patients with brainstem dysfunction returned to normal 2 weeks after discharge from hospital,but 10 patients recovered in a month and another 7 patients became normal in 3 months.Up till now,4 cases are still in the following-up.Conclusions ABR can be adapted to evaluate the prognosis of brainstem dysfunction as an adjunctive diagnosis and a marker of follow-up of HFMD.