In orther to investigate urinary dysfunction in lumbar disease from the point of view of autonomic dysfunction, urodynamic examinations and sympathetic skin responses (SSR) were evaluated in patients with lumbar diseases. Cystometry and uroflowmetry were performed as urodynamic examinations on 40 patients with lumbar diseases including intervertebral disc herniation (IDH), spinal canal stenosis (SCS), and spondilolisthesis with spondilolysis. SSR of the feet were recorded in 6 healthy men, as

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... ntrols, and in 10 patients with IDH; The latencies and amplitudes of SSR were compared. Eighty percent of the patients showed some abnormality in the urodynamic examinations that indicated an occult neurogenic bladder. Also, the mean and maximal amplitudes were significantly lower in the patients with IDH than in the controls (p<0.01). While the occurrence of a neurogenic bladder was considered to be a parasympathetic dysfunction, abnormalities in SSR were considered to be sympathetic dysfunctions. It was therefore considered that autonomic dysfunction was present in the bladder and lower extremities of patients with lumbar diseases.