Data and code for "Sympathetic vasomotion as an early marker of hemorrhage."

Each year, over 1.8 million people die from hemorrhagic shock, and the median time from onset to death is only two hours, making early recognition and prompt action the cornerstone of management. The sympathetic nervous system is the fastest physiological hemodynamic compensatory mechanism, and we have developed a novel measure of sympathetic vascular control called sympathetic vasomotion which could serve as an early marker of hemorrhage. We performed unilateral renal denervation on six rabbits and instrumented these rabbits with bilateral renal flow probes and arterial pressure telemeters to allow for measurement of sympathetic vasomotion. After a two-week recovery period, the rabbits then underwent controlled blood withdrawal via an auricular arterial catheter. The difference in the vasomotion profiles between the innervated and denervated kidneys increased significantly prior to increases in heart rate or decreases in blood pressure. This data suggests that some features of sympathetic vasomotion may be useful as a biomarker for the diagnosis of early-stage normotensive hemorrhage and assessment of treatment response. Further studies are needed to evaluate the utility of sympathetic nervous system monitoring in clinical contexts.