Sigmoid compliance and visceral perception in spinal cord injury patients

Intestinal motor and sensory dysfunctions in traumatic complete or incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI) are frequent and result in altered mechanisms of defecation. The aim of this study is to investigate sigmoid compliance and perception in chronic SCI patients. Sigmoid responses to fixed-tension distentions were assessed using a tensostat in six patients (six men, 42\ub14 years) with chronic complete transection of the spinal cord (high-SCI; five tetraplegic C5-C7 and one paraplegic T4-T6) and impaired evacuation (i.e. constipation). A group of 10 healthy individuals (six men, 25\ub11 years) served as controls. SCI patients had higher sigmoid compliance at the highest distention level than the controls (10.3\ub12.4 vs. 5.1\ub10.8 ml/mmHg; P<0.05). Perception scores at first sensation were higher in SCI patients (2.3\ub10.7 vs. 1.1\ub10.1; P