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B Bromm

Publications and source records attributed to B Bromm.

95 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Laser-evoked brain potentials in patients with dissociated loss of pain and temperature sensibility.

Brief heat stimuli, elicited by a CO2 laser (10.6 microns wave length), activate the most superficial cutaneous nerve terminals of the thin myelinated A delta and unmyelinated C fibres which mediate heat and pain sensations. This paper investigates late cerebral potentials (SEPs) in response to laser pulses in comparison with those to conventional electrical stimulation in 18 patients with a dissociated sensory deficit (intact mechano-sensibility and disturbed temperature and pain sensation). Patients were stimulated in the most disturbed limb (affected area) and in a corresponding control area. In all 18 patients the SEPs elicited by laser stimuli were able to identify the body site with heaviest disturbances in pain and thermo-sensibility: the SEPs from the affected area were reduced or delayed, compared to the control area. In contrast, no alterations in SEPs could be observed after conventional electrical nerve stimulation, in agreement with the normal mechano-sensibility. However, the degree of SEP modulation in response to cutaneous heat stimuli did not correspond to the severity of the subjectively reported sensory deficit. Highest correlations between sensory deficits and abnormal SEPs were found in all those patients in whom computer tomography or MR imaging documented a localized destructive process in the CNS. All patients with the smallest SEP modulations despite a considerable sensory deficit had an inflammatory aetiology. Preliminary criteria to define a laser-evoked SEP as pathological are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

New aspects of itch pathophysiology: component analysis of atopic itch using the 'Eppendorf Itch Questionnaire'.

Itch represents a leading symptom in dermatological practice with many psychophysiological aspects. Instruments for qualitative registration of these central nervous factors and evaluation of therapeutic measures are still missing. We analyzed in detail the subjective itch sensation in 108 patients with acute atopic eczema with a new questionnaire developed in analogy to the McGill pain questionnaire. The descriptors with the highest load in atopic itch and the most frequent reaction patterns in atopic eczema patients were identified. Itch intensity (mean VAS 62%) and eczema severity (SCORAD mean 41 points) showed a different frequency distribution pattern with a correlation of r = 0.33 (p < 0.05). Principal component analysis of the itch questionnaire data was performed and compared with the standardized SCORAD severity index for the patients with atopic eczema. Three main factors of atopic itch explained 58% of the total variance: (1) 'suffering' (correlation with SCORAD, r = 0.6); (2) 'phasic intensity' (correlation with SCORAD, r = 0.4), and (3) 'ecstatic' component (associated with certain active reaction patterns). In conclusion, the complete description of itch has to consider different factors, which may be described on a more general level by three main components. Two of these are correlated with objective criteria of disease activity.

Adolescent↗