The Value of Sacral Reflex and Sympathetic Skin Reflex in the Diagnosis of Multiple System Atrophy P-Type

Xiaohang Li; Chengju Wang; Xueming Zhang; Wanli Zhang; Binbin Deng; Xun Wang; Huanjie Huang

doi:10.1155/2021/6646259

The Value of Sacral Reflex and Sympathetic Skin Reflex in the Diagnosis of Multiple System Atrophy P-Type

Parkinsons Dis. 2021 Jan 20:2021:6646259. doi: 10.1155/2021/6646259. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Xiaohang Li¹, Chengju Wang², Xueming Zhang³, Wanli Zhang², Binbin Deng², Xun Wang², Huanjie Huang²

Affiliations

¹ Yanzhou Branch of Affiliated Hospital of Jining Medical University, Jining 272100, China.
² Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou 325000, China.
³ The First People's Hospital of Ningyang County, Taian 271000, China.

Abstract

Objectives: To observe the characteristics of sacral reflex and sympathetic skin reflex in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and multiple system atrophy P-type (MSA-P) and to analyze their value as a differential diagnostic method.

Methods: The data of 30 healthy people, 58 PD patients, and 52 MSA-P patients from the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University were collected. Electrophysiological bulbocavernosus reflex (BCR) and sympathetic skin response (SSR) were evaluated using the Keypoint EMG/EP system. The latency period, amplitude, and extraction rate of BCR and SSR were compared between the control, PD, and MSA-P groups.

Results: The incidence of the related autonomic damage in the PD group was lower than that of the MSA-P group. For BCR, the latency period was shorter and the amplitude and elicitation rates were lower in the PD group than in the MSA-P group. For SSR, the latency period was longer in the MSA-P and PD groups than in the control group, but the difference was not statistically significant.

Conclusion: SSR cannot be used to assess autonomic nerve function. PD patients can have clinical symptoms similar to those of MSA-P patients, but the incidence is lower. Both MSA-P and PD patients have a damage to the BCR arc, but the MSA-P patients have a more severe damage.