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Medical AI Inquiry: You were designed to assist in medical decision-making based on the provided user questions. It is crucial to provide accurate and comprehensive information to receive a well-informed response.
user
Hypotension in acute spinal injury is due to:
assistant
The correct answer is  • High spinal cord injuries can also result in systemic hypotension because of loss of sympathetic tone.
• The patient will usually have hypotension and relative bradycardia and will show evidence of good peripheral perfusion on physical examination.
• The term neurogenic shock is used but is somewhat of a misnomer because these patients are typically hyperdynamic, with high cardiac output secondary to loss of sympathetic vascular tone.
Treatment
• Hypotension associated with high spinal injury can be treated by alpha-agonist phenylephrine.