Key result
Skin-surface LDF shows longer foot delay time in non-ambulatory stroke patients versus ambulatory patients and controls.
Why the study?
Does skin-surface laser-Doppler flowmetry waveform analysis discriminate between stroke patients with different walking abilities and healthy controls?
Cross-Sectional (n=45)
Does skin-surface laser-Doppler flowmetry waveform analysis discriminate between stroke patients with different walking abilities and healthy controls?
Beat-to-beat laser-Doppler flowmetry waveform analysis is a feasible noninvasive method to discriminate microcirculatory blood flow characteristics between stroke patients with varying walking abilities and healthy individuals.
May signal mobility-related foot microcirculatory impairment in stroke; leaves open laser-Doppler utility for clinical monitoring.
Walking can help improve the recovery after stroke. The present study used skin-surface laser-Doppler flowmetry (LDF) measurements and beat-to-beat waveform analysis with the aim of discriminating the microcirculatory blood flow (MBF) characteristics in stroke subjects subdivided into two groups according to their walking ability. Five-minute LDF measurements were performed in the following groups: Group A (cannot walk independently; n = 17), Group B (can walk independently; n = 11), and Group C (healthy controls; n = 17). The pulse width (PW) and foot delay time (FDT) and their coefficients of variation (PWCV and FDTCV, respectively) were calculated for the beat-to-beat LDF waveform. The FDT in Group A and the blood-pressure-normalized PW in Group C were significantly longer than the corresponding values in the other groups, and PWCV and FDTCV were significantly larger in Group C than in Group A. To our knowledge this is the first study demonstrating the feasibility of using a beat-to-beat LDF waveform index to discriminate between stroke subjects with different walking abilities and between stroke and normal subjects. It provides a noninvasive and real-time method for discriminating MBF characteristics, and thus could aid the development of an index for the early detection of stroke or for evaluating the recovery condition in stroke patients.
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Hsiu et al. (2014) conducted a cross-sectional in Stroke (n=45). Stroke and walking ability status vs. Healthy controls was evaluated on Beat-to-beat LDF waveform parameters (pulse width, foot delay time, and their coefficients of variation). Skin-surface laser-Doppler flowmetry showed significantly longer foot delay time in non-ambulatory stroke patients compared to ambulatory patients and healthy controls.
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