Differentiating essential hypertension from autonomic dysreflexia: a case report

Autonomic dysreflexia (AD) and essential hypertension can both cause high blood pressure in spinal cord injury patients. However, they have different causes and require different treatments. This case report describes a patient with a C1 spinal injury who developed essential hypertension. Initially, it was difficult to distinguish from autonomic dysreflexia. The authors propose criteria to help differentiate essential hypertension from autonomic dysreflexia in spinal cord injury patients, including monitoring blood pressure trends and identifying provoking stimuli.

• 1
  Essential hypertension can occur in patients with spinal cord injury, even those expected to have low blood pressure.
• 2
  Differentiating between autonomic dysreflexia and essential hypertension is crucial for appropriate management and to reduce cardiovascular risk.
• 3
  The proposed criteria include chronic elevation of resting blood pressure, absence of provoking stimuli, lack of bradycardia during hypertensive episodes, and absence of AD symptoms.