Cerebral Blood Flow Responses to Autonomic Dysreflexia in Humans with Spinal Cord Injury
Aaron A Phillips1,2,3,4,5, Philip N Ainslie6, Darren E R Warburton1,2,3,4,5
11 Physical Activity Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention Unit, University of British Columbia , Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada .
Abstract:
Autonomic dysreflexia (AD) is a life-threatening episode of transient hypertension affecting up to 90% of those with high-level spinal cord injury (SCI), and can lead to cerebral hemorrhage. Due to the nature of this medical emergency, cerebral blood flow (CBF) has not been recorded during AD. Beat-by-beat blood pressure (BP) and CBF velocity of the middle cerebral artery were measured during spontaneous AD episodes in four motor complete cervical SCI patients. Mean arterial BP increased during AD (66 ± 11 vs. 83 ± 10 mm Hg; p = 0.004), whereas CBF (76 ± 4 vs. 74 ± 4 cm · sec(-1)) and end-tidal partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PETCO2) (35 ± 1 vs. 34 ± 3 mm Hg) were maintained. These preliminary data indicate that the brain may effectively buffer moderate episodes of AD.
More Related Videos
07:59A Radio-telemetric System to Monitor Cardiovascular Function in Rats with Spinal Cord Transection and Embryonic Neural Stem Cell Grafts
Published on: October 7, 2014
08:31In Vivo Telemetry to Record Long-Term Cardiovascular Parameters, Temperature, and Activity in Spinal Cord Injury Rat Models
Published on: January 2, 2026
Related Concept Videos
01:18Disorders of the Autonomic Nervous System
Raynaud's disease, also known as Raynaud's...
01:17Autoregulation of Blood Flow
Chemical Signaling in Autoregulation
Chemical signaling operates at the precapillary sphincter level, inciting either contraction or relaxation....
01:18Neural Regulation of Blood Pressure
Baroreceptor Reflex
Baroreceptors, located in the carotid sinuses and aortic arch, detect changes in blood pressure. When blood pressure rises, these stretch-sensitive receptors...