Document Detail


Malignant autonomic dysreflexia in spinal cord injured men.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  16186856     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
STUDY DESIGN: Case reports.
OBJECTIVES: To present a series of cases of protracted and severe autonomic dysreflexia (AD) in men with spinal cord injury (SCI), who sustained damage to their descending autonomic pathways.
SETTINGS: GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre, Sexual Health Rehabilitation Service, Vancouver Sperm Retrieval Clinic, Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
CASE REPORT: AD is a serious complication of SCI triggered by a variety of noxious or non-noxious stimuli below the level of injury. However, we are presenting three cases of protracted, severe AD we have termed 'malignant', owing to the tendency of progressive worsening not usually seen with AD once the alleviating factor is removed. In all three individuals, AD was initially triggered by ejaculation and continued for a period of more than 1 week. Systolic blood pressure in these individuals increased above 220 mmHg and required either acute hospitalization or hospital assessment. Two of the individuals with malignant AD had American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) B and C high cervical injury, respectively, with the third having a high thoracic ASIA A injury. In addition to detailed history and neurological examination, electrophysiological assessment of sympathetic skin responses (SSR) demonstrated a significant disruption of the descending autonomic pathways in these individuals.
CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that in addition to the severe injury of the motor and sensory pathways (assessed by ASIA score), these individuals sustained severe injury to the supraspinal autonomic control. A combination of strong triggers such as ejaculation and bladder or colono-rectal irritation with total loss of descending autonomic control to the spinal sympathetic circuits could therefore contribute to the unusual manifestation of AD.
Authors:
S Elliott; A Krassioukov
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Case Reports; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't     Date:  2005-09-27
Journal Detail:
Title:  Spinal cord     Volume:  44     ISSN:  1362-4393     ISO Abbreviation:  Spinal Cord     Publication Date:  2006 Jun 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2006-06-01     Completed Date:  2006-08-01     Revised Date:  2011-06-06    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  9609749     Medline TA:  Spinal Cord     Country:  England    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  386-92     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD), Vancouver, BC, Canada.
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Adult
Autonomic Dysreflexia / diagnosis*,  rehabilitation*
Diagnosis, Differential
Erectile Dysfunction / diagnosis*,  rehabilitation*
Humans
Male
Spinal Cord Injuries / diagnosis,  rehabilitation
Syndrome
Treatment Outcome

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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