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Of the 37 stroke patients,43%reported a sensation of coldness in the contralesional side of the body.Basal skin blood flow and temperature were relatively lower in the contralesional side.There was an excess of evaporation in the contralesional side after brain stem lesions and in the ipsilateral side after hemispheric lesions.Vasomotor reflex asymmetries occurred in 34%of the patients and were due to weak vasodilator or vasoconstrictor reflexes in the ipsilesional side.These abnormalities correlated significantly to sensations of unilateral coldness,hypalgesia, and thermihypesthesia in the contralesion side and anatomically to lesions in spino-thalamo-cortical pathways.Focal central nervous system lesions due to stroke may result in symptoms and measurable evidence of unilateral disturbance of skin sympathetic function.Vasomotor asymmetries are probably due to lesions of vasomotor pathways descending uncrossed. Subjective coldness may be due to disturbed central processing. |
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