Neonatal auditory brainstem response cannot reliably diagnose brainstem death.

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.