Bowel dysfunction and disturbance of physical condition after evacuation in patients with chronic cervical spinal cord injuries

Abstract

We investigated the disturbance of physical condition following evacuation of the bowels in patients with chronic cervical spinal cord injuries. The cases dealt with 17 patients who had incurred spinal cord injuries a year or more before. We measured patients' blood pressure, heart rate, and fingertip plethysmography during the evacuation procedure. Also blood pressure, heart rate and fingertip plethysmography were measured before and after the tilting test. Fourteen patients out of 17 complained about their physical condition with such complaints as feelings of exhaustion, listlessness or dizziness after evacuation. We observed a rise in blood pressure and a lowering of fingertip plethysmography during evacuation. Immediately after getting on the tilt table, these patients experienced a decrease in blood pressure and an increase in heart rate; however, compared to the day before evacuation, the heart rate increase was not considered significant and the wave height for finger plethysmography was low. The strain on the sympathetic nerves due to evacuation causes autonomic dystonia which means the parasympathetic nervous system is dominant and causes impairment of circulatory function.