Fourty-four cases with psychosomatic disease or neurosis were studied during serial immersion in hot sulfate spring for 7 days at Sukawa Spa in Iwate prefecture. Before and after the balneotherapy, blood specimen were taken for endocrinological analysis of plasma catecholamines with use of high-speed liquid chromatography. One, two and three years after balneotherapy, long term prognostic efficacy was evaluated by questionnaire in order to examine the relationship between efficacy and changing pattern of plasma catecholamines.
The results of this study presented that the plasma levels of norepinephrine had decreased during balneotherapy in effective cases (p<0.05). Furthermore, the same changing pattern of plasma norepinephrine was observed in the cases which had improved after long interval. On the otherhand, in non-effective cases and cases with recurrence, the plasma levels of norepinephrine had increased significantly (p<0.05) during balneotherapy.
It was thought that response pattern of plasma catecholamines to serial immersion in hot spring reflected the therapeutic mechanism of balneotherapy, thus it would be an appropriate mediator for evaluating the prognosis.