Cardiovascular Concerns in Spinal Cord Injury eMedicine PMR

Description: Spinal cord injury (SCI) can result in clinically significant compromise of cardiovascular control with associated short- and long-term consequences.1, 2 Impaired control of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), especially in individuals with high thoracic and cervical SCI, can result in various problems, such as hypotension, bradycardia, and autonomic dysreflexia.3, 4 Additional associated cardiovascular concerns in SCI, such as deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and long-term risk for coronary heart disease (CHD), also are briefly discussed in this article.
Synonyms and related keywords: cardiovascular concerns in spinal cord injury, neurogenic shock, orthostatic hypotension, spinal cord injury, SCI, autonomic nervous system, ANS, autonomic dysreflexia, deep vein thrombosis, DVT, coronary heart disease, CHD, bradycardia
McKinley, Garstang & Danesh 2008