THE EAR IN THE ACQUIRED-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-SYNDROME .1. TEMPORAL BONE HISTOPATHOLOGIC STUDY

A postmortem histopathologic investigation of temporal bones of patien ts with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) was performed af ter microslicing, acid decalcification of the slices and paraffin embe dding. Histopathologic changes in 49 temporal bones from 25 patients i ncluded severe otitis media in five patients (20%), low-grade otitis m edia in fifteen (60%), labyrinthine cryptococcosis in two, Kaposi's sa rcoma deposit in the eighth nerve of one, and cytomegalovirus (CMV) in clusion-bearing cells in the inner and middle ear of six (24%). It was possible to identify the CMV genome by in situ hybridization in only two bones and expression of CMV antigen by immunohistochemistry in non e, probably because of prolonged decalcification in acid. The ear is n o less susceptible to AIDS-associated diseases than any other organ, a nd is particularly prone to CMV infection.