Journal of the autonomic nervous system
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J. Auton. Nerv. Syst. · Nov 1996
Significance of sympathetic skin response in the assessment of autonomic failure in patients with spinal cord injury.
As a result of spinal cord injury (SCI) descending spinal sympathetic pathways can be severed. Because of its clinical significance, the aim of this study was to assess the disturbance of the spinal sympathetic pathway by clinical and electrophysiological examinations. The sympathetic skin response (SSR) due to electrical stimulation of median nerve and transcranial magnetic stimulation was examined in 70 patients with complete and incomplete spinal cord injury. ⋯ There was no patient with preserved SSR potentials who developed symptoms of autonomic dysreflexia (AD). However, all patients with episodes of AD showed abolished SSR at the hands and feet even in incomplete SCI patients. The results of the SSR recordings in SCI patients fit with the assumption that the development of AD is related to the disconnection of the spinal sympathetic centers from supraspinal control.