Cold Pressor Test in Tetraplegia and Paraplegia Suggests an Independent Role of the Thoracic Spinal Cord in the Hemodynamic Responses to Cold
Spinal Cord (2008) 46, 33–38 & 2008 International Spinal Cord Society All rights reserved 1362-4393/08 $30.00 www.nature.com/sc ORIGINAL ARTICLE Cold pressor test in tetraplegia and paraplegia suggests an independent role of the thoracic spinal cord in the hemodynamic responses to cold A Catz1,2, V Bluvshtein1, I Pinhas3, S Akselrod3, I Gelernter4, T Nissel5, Y Vered5, N Bornstein2,5 and AD Korczyn2,5 1The Spinal Department, Loewenstein Rehabilitation Hospital, Raanana, Israel; 2Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel; 3The Center for Medical Physics, Faculty of Exact Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel; 4Faculty of Exact Sciences, The Statistical Laboratory, School of Mathematics, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel and 5Neurology Department and Biochemistry Laboratory, Tel-Aviv Medical Center, Tel-Aviv, Israel Background: Cold application to the hand (CAH) is associated in healthy people with increase in heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP). Objective: To study hemodynamic responses to CAH in humans following spinal cord injuries of various levels, and examine the effect of spinal cord integrity on the cold pressor response. Design: An experimental controlled study. Setting: The spinal research laboratory, Loewenstein Hospital, Raanana, Israel. Subjects: Thirteen healthy subjects, 10 patients with traumatic T4–6 paraplegia and 11 patients with traumatic C4–7 tetraplegia. Main outcome measures: HR, BP, HR and BP spectral components (low frequency, LF; high frequency, HF; LF/HF), cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) and cerebrovascular resistance index (CVRi). Methods: The outcome measures of the three subject groups monitored for HR, BP and CBFV were compared from 5 min before to 5 min after 40–150 s of CAH.
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