THE PATHOGENESIS OF NON-FREEZING COLD NERVE INJURY - OBSERVATIONS IN THE RAT

Non-freezing cold nerve injury is uncommon in civilian practice, but m ay reach epidemic proportions in war zones. Studied since the time of Hippocrates, its aetiology has remained elusive. We sought to replicat e experimentally, a peripheral nerve cold temperature gradient, since this has been emphasized in clinical descriptions. Our observations, i n the rat, of the vasa nervorum show that cold-induced intravascular a ggregation is followed by a 'no-reflow' phenomenon which culminates in endothelial damage and delayed thrombotic occlusion.