Efeito inibitório da via eferente contralateral em bebês com sífilis congênita ao longo dos seis primeiros meses de vida

Abstract

Introduction: Congenital syphilis can trigger symmetric bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. Given the characteristic of hearing loss resulting from congenital syphilis, transient otoacoustic emissions with contralateral noise can be used, as they assess the inhibitory effect of the efferent pathway. When there is absence or reduction of this effect, it may suggest an auditory alteration in the efferent auditory pathway. Objective: To verify the inhibitory effect of the efferent auditory pathway in babies with congenital syphilis in the first six months of life. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study, with a sample of 51 babies with and without congenital syphilis, 40 of whom were evaluated at 1 month and 11 at 6 months of age. Both groups underwent otoscopy and linear transient otoacoustic emission with and without the presence of contralateral noise. Results: The level of noiseless transient otoacoustic emissions was different between the groups in the first month at the frequency of 1000 Hz (p=0.006). There was a low occurrence of the inhibitory effect when the groups, ears and age groups were analyzed. Inhibition levels in the first month in both ears were high. Conclusion: There was a reduction in the amplitudes of emissions in the sixth month and the inhibitory effect was present in a small percentage of the subjects of the entire sample. Congenital syphilis has not been shown to impact the amplitude of response of otoacoustic emissions and the inhibitory effect in the first 6 months of life.