![](bg6.png)
From the three subjects who experienced thermal
stimuli in NP group, only one presents complete
injury. For the P group, two subjects are AIS B and
five are AIS A.
This finding can be justified through theories that
explain why subjects with complete SCI have some
sensibility, characterizing the discomplete injury.
Dimitrijevic (1988) and Sherwood, Dimitrijevic and
Mckay (1992) found motor remnants in complete
SCIS due to a neural control. Thus, discomplete
injury is an incomplete injury that fits the AIS
criteria for grade A. Moreover, some subjects with
complete SCI can present some semblance of
sensibility, which can be evoked below the level of
injury due to incomplete injuries in the
spinothalamic tract. These subjects have subclinical
functions of ascending and descending tracts
(Finnerup et al., 2004).
5 CONCLUSIONS
Due to feedback control, the custom built portable
device provides easy temperature control with
resolution of 1
o
C. The device is simple to build and
can stabilize its temperature in about 5s for a 5
o
C
temperature change, therefore representing a simple
alternative for quick and practical assessment. It can
provide quantified information about sensory
performance of subjects, and the results obtained
from clinical trials are in accordance to previous
works, thus demonstrating the device feasibility for
thermal sensitivity assessment. Spinal cord injured
subjects that refer neuropathic pain are more
sensitive to thermal stimuli than patients do not
present neuropathic pain.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We thank the support by grants from São Paulo
Research Foundation (FAPESP) and National
Council for Scientific and Technological
Development (CNPq).
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