Electroencephalogram base rhythm in AIDS patients

• Autor(a) principal: Prado,G. Fernandes do
• Data de Publicação: 1993
• Outros Autores: Silva,A. Baptista da, Lima,J.G. Camargo
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0004-282X1993000200003
• topic: AIDS; EEG; HIV infection; background activity

We studied the EEG of 73 patients diagnosed with HIV infection, with or without secondary complications. Sixty-eight belonged to CDC (Center for Disease Control) group IV and 38 presented signs or symptoms of encephalic neurological impairment. Rhytms constituting base activity were alpha (65.75%), beta (13.70%), theta (12.33%), and delta (8.22%). The alpha rhythm presented two modes: slow (8 to 9 Hz) in 25/48 or 52.08% of the cases and not-slow (>9 to 13 Hz) in 23/48 or 47.92% of the cases. The alpha slow-mode has been observed in about 10 to 15% of the normal population, with the 8 Hz frequency being found in only 1% of the normal adult population, which suggests that in some manner HIV is implicated in the slowing-down of the EEG base rhythm in AIDS patients. The patients from CDC group IV with encephalic neurological involvement presented a base rhythm significantly lower than those with non-encephalic involvement or the absence of neurological impairment.