Differences in the beat-to-beat parameters of skin-surface pulsatile laser-Doppler waveforms between stroke and normal subjects.
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.
Graduate Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan.
Hsin
H
Hsiu
Department of Electrical Engineering, Yuan Ze University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
Shih-Min
SM
Huang
Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Taipei City Hospital RenAi Branch, Taipei, Taiwan.
Chao-Tsung
CT
Chen
Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Taipei City Hospital RenAi Branch, Taipei, Taiwan.
Wei-Chen
WC
Hsu
Department of Rehabilitation, Taipei City Hospital RenAi Branch, Taipei, Taiwan.
Fong-Cheng
FC
Lin
D000368:Aged; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017078:Laser-Doppler Flowmetry / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D020521:Stroke
Stroke; beat-to-beat; laser Doppler