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Published on: April 4, 2012
Reappearance of sympathetic skin response below a thoracic level-9 complete spinal cord injury
Hatice Kumru1, Martin Schubert2, Jesus Benito1
1Institut Guttmann, Institut Universitari de Neurorehabilitació adscrit a la UAB, 08916 Badalona, Barcelona, Spain; Univ Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Spain; Fundació Institut d'Investigació en Ciències de la Salut Germans Trias i Pujol, Badalona, Barcelona, Spain.
Abstract:
Reappearance of sympathetic skin response (SSR) below lesion is reported in a patient with a complete thoracic-9 spinal cord injury 6 months following injury. SSR was elicited by electrical stimulation of supraorbital nerve (SON) and pudendal nerve (PN). SON stimulation induced SSRs only in the hand. SSRs were initially absent below the level of SCI but reappeared only with PN stimulation. This case suggests that 6 months following a complete lesion, the isolated spinal cord can generate a SSR. Possible underlying mechanisms and implications for autonomic plasticity below spinal lesion are discussed in view of the literature.
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