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Skin sympathetic outflow in Buerger's disease
1Department of Autonomic Neuroscience, Nagoya University, Japan. iwase@riem.nagoya-u.ac.jp
Autonomic Neuroscience : Basic & Clinical
|July 31, 2001
Summary
Sympathetic nerve activity is not increased in Buerger
Area of Science:
- Vascular Medicine
- Neuroscience
- Physiology
Background:
- Buerger's disease (thromboangiitis obliterans, TAO) is a vascular condition.
- The role of sympathetic nervous system activity in TAO pathogenesis is unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate sympathetic outflow in patients with Buerger's disease.
- To assess skin sympathetic nerve activity (SSNA) and its relationship with vascular responses in TAO.
Main Methods:
- Measured multiunit postganglionic sympathetic activity in TAO patients and healthy controls.
- Recorded skin blood flow and sweat expulsion simultaneously with SSNA.
- Utilized activating maneuvers to assess sympathetic responses.
Main Results:
- TAO patients exhibited significantly lower vasoconstrictor SSNA compared to healthy subjects.
- No consistent relationship was found between vasoconstrictor SSNA and skin blood flow in some TAO patients.
- Absence of increased sympathetic nerve activity or hypersensitivity in TAO patients.
Conclusions:
- Sympathetic activity is not elevated in Buerger's disease.
- The lack of correlation between SSNA and skin blood flow suggests a local vascular abnormality in TAO.
- TAO patients with this dissociation may not benefit from sympathectomy.