Cardiovascular malfunction in patients with spinal cord injury

While the consequences of damage to the sensorimotor nervous system in spin al cord injury are obvious, autonomic dysreflexia often goes unrecognised. Spinal cord injury affecting the cord above the fifth thoracic segment invo lves interruption of the connection between brain and sympathetic nervous s ystem and, below the level of the lesion, the sacral parasympathetic nervou s system. The isolated spinal cord continues to function, except for the di rectly damaged segment, but there is no central control. The autonomic nerv ous system below the level of the lesion can trigger severe reactions from the cardiovascular system which diminish quality of life and even promote s evere morbidity. Autonomous malfunction can also have clinical effects in r elation to thermoregulation and gastrointestinal, genital and urinary tract function.