SSRs are a useful, non-invasive adjunct for assessing autonomic dysfunction in patients with spinal cord injury.
SSRs may aid autonomic assessment after spinal cord injury; hypothesis-generating and requires prospective validation before clinical adoption.
Sympathetic skin responses (SSRs), a measure of sympathetic cholinergic sudomotor function, have been used in the assessment of autonomic dysfunction in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). This review highlights the basic mechanisms underlying SSRs as well as their application to the SCI population. We address the utility of SSRs in assessing autonomic function, the relationship between autonomic and sensorimotor impairment, and the association between SSRs and the sequelae of autonomic dysfunction in SCI, particularly autonomic dysreflexia and orthostatic hypotension. Overall, SSRs are a rapid, convenient and non-invasive method illustrating that the severity of autonomic impairment can be independent from sensorimotor impairment. We suggest that SSRs be used in conjunction with other validated autonomic tests in order to predict or document autonomic dysfunction in SCI.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Berger et al. (2014) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: