Somatotopic arrangement of sudomotor axon reflexes in human skin

Background: In neuropathies impaired sweating is often one of the first symptoms, therefore the evaluation of the sweating reaction is a valuable method for the early detection of neuropathies. Quantitative sudomotor axon reflex testing (QSART) has been employed for that purpose and measures the amount of sweating induced by iontophoretic stimulation with acetylcholine quantitativelly. For measuring the extent of the sudomotor axon reflex iodine starch staining (Minor testing) has been used. The aim of our study was to compare both tests on three different sites on the leg: foot, lower leg and upper leg. Methods…