Analysis of sympathetic skin responses in a group of healthy subjects and in patients affected by sphincter disorders and impotence.

Bilateral palmar and plantar sympathetic skin responses (SSRs) to pudendal and median nerves stimulation have been recorded in a population of 10 healthy adult subjects. A group of 11 patients affected by sphincter disorders and/or impotence of neurological origin (diabetic neuropathy, ischaemic myelopathy, myelitis, cauda aequina syndrome) was investigated and results were compared with normal values obtained from the control group. The technique is focused on the vegetative component of innervation and is shown to give complementary information on sympathetic dysfunction, in addition to traditional techniques relating to somatic innervation (electroneurography, electromyography, somatosensory evoked potentials.