Thursday, July 21, 2011

Quantifying sympathetic nerve activity: problems, pitfalls and the need for standardization


Telemetry Research Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand


In this article Guild et al, are proposing that there needs to be a more consistent way to interpret SNA so that the results can be compared across different groups. In the article they discuss how to define a good recording versus a bad one. They discuss alternative ways of figuring out noise in the recording. They propose using the quiet period in between bursts as the zero level for SNA. They also discuss the use of long term SNA recording. The problem with the long term SNA recordings is that there could be growth of tissue around the electrode that affects the signal that is pick from the nerve and another issue is how  one figures out the noise level in these long term recordings. The noise level could change every day making it difficult to figure out the amount noise that is present throughout the long term recording. Also they discuss reporting not only the % change in comparison to baseline but also the frequency and the amplitude along with the absolute SNA. 

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