Differences between trunk heat patterns shown by complete and incomplete spinal cord injured veterans.

Thermograms showing heat patterns in the trunk of the body were taken of ten intact subjects, seven subjects with incomplete spinal cord injuries (SCI), and fifteen subjects diagnosed as having complete SCIs. Fourteen of the subjects with complete SCIs had a thermal demarcation line across the trunk. This line represented a temperature gradient of one to 2.5 degrees Celsius between a relatively warm upper level where sensations were normal and a relatively cool lower level in which sensations were either absent or different from pre-injury sensations. The transition zone was narrow and sharp for ten of the complete SCI subjects but was wide and gradual for the other five complete SCI subjects. The shape and width of the thermal transition zone corresponded to the location and degree of abruptness with which sensations changed from normal to abnormal. One of the subjects diagnosed as having a complete SCI failed to show a significant transition zone. The temperature difference between the upper and lower portions of his trunk was less than one degree Celsius. None of the intact or incomplete SCI subjects produced the transition zone. Only one incomplete SCI subject showed even a minimal difference in temperature between the normal sensation and abnormal sensation levels. A panel blind to the subjects' conditions was unable to differentiate between intact and incomplete SCI subjects but was able to sort complete from incomplete SCI subjects in all but the case with an indistinct transition zone.