The sympathetic skin response (SSR) - An electrophysiological method for the diagnosis of lesions of the sympathetic nervous system

The sympathetic skin response (SSR), also known as electrodermal activity ( EDA), can be used to quantitatively determine type and extent of damage in the autonomic nervous system. Three electrical and three acoustical stimuli are used to simultaneously obtain bilateral SSRs from both hands and feet (Fig. 2 and 3). Latencies and amplitudes for normal subjects are provided i n Tables 1 and 2. Recording of SSRs may be of diagnostic value in polyneuro pathies, diseases of the spinal cord, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disea se and disturbances of consciousness and vigilance.