Sympathetic skin responses in multiple sclerosis

• Published in: Acta neurologica Scandinavica Vol. 118; no. 4; pp. 226 - 231
• Main Authors: Saari, A., Tolonen, U., Pääkkö, E., Suominen, K., Pyhtinen, J., Sotaniemi, K. A., Jauhiainen, J., Myllylä, V. V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.10.2008; Blackwell
• Subjects: Acoustic Stimulation; Adult; autonomic nervous system; Autonomic Nervous System Diseases - etiology; Biological and medical sciences; Brain - pathology; Electric Stimulation; Female; Humans; magnetic resonance imaging; Male; Medical sciences; multiple sclerosis; Multiple Sclerosis - complications; Multiple Sclerosis - pathology; Nervous system involvement in other diseases. Miscellaneous; Neurology; Skin - innervation; Spinal Cord - pathology; sympathetic skin response; Nervous system diseases; Multiple sclerosis; magnetic resonance imaging; sympathetic skin response; Autonomic nervous system; Central nervous system disease; Skin; Sympathetic nervous system; Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging; Inflammatory disease
• ISSN: 0001-6314; 1600-0404
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0404.2008.01003.x

Objectives –  This study assessed the sympathetic skin responses (SSRs) and their correlation with brain lesion volumes in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Materials and methods –  The SSRs were measured in 27 patients with MS and 27 healthy controls. The volumes of the proton density‐weighted MS lesions in the brain were measured using MRI. Results –  The SSRs were abnormal in 52% of the patients with MS, but absent only in clinically severe MS. The total lesion volume in the whole brain correlated significantly with both the severity of MS expressed by the EDSS score (P < 0.001) and the decreased SSR amplitudes in the feet (P < 0.01). Focal lesion volumes in the temporal lobe (P < 0.01), in the pons (P < 0.01) and in the cerebellum (P < 0.01) were also separately associated with abnormal SSR reflexes. Conclusions –  Sudomotor regulation failure in MS is associated with certain focal MS lesions.