Correlation between hand function and radial artery blood supply and sympathetic skin response in stroke patients

Abstract:

Objective：To determine the correlation between the paralytic degree of upper limbs and blood perfusion and sympathetic nerve activity in stroke patients by radial artery color Doppler ultrasound and sympathetic skin response（SSR） measurements of the upper limbs. Methods：74 stroke patients with Brunnstrom’s score<3 were included in the study，and their upper limb function was assessed using the Fugl-Meyer assessment（FMA）. Peak systolic velocity（PSV），end diastolic velocity（EDV），diameter，blood flow volume（BFV），and resistance index（RI） were determined by ultrasound，and at the same time the SSR of the bilateral median nerve was determined. Pearson correlation coefficient（r value） was used to analyze the correlation between the paralytic degree of affected limbs and blood perfusion and SSR. Results：①The BFV and EDV of radial artery in the affected limb of stroke patients was smaller than those in the healthy limb（P=0.003）. ②The RI of radial artery in the affected limb was lower than that in the healthy limb（P=0.015）. ③The amplitude of SSR in the affected limb was lower than that in the healthy limb，but there was no obvious difference in incubation period. ④The FMA score was positively correlated with the ratio of the radial-artery BFVs in the affected and the healthy limb（r=0.712，P=0.046），and positively correlated with the amplitude of SSR（r=0.455，P=0.032）. Conclusions：Compared with the healthy limb，the blood perfusion of the affected limb was significantly reduced and the degree of limb dysfunction was aggravated. There is a certain degree of sympathetic regulation disorder in the paralytic upper limbs. However，as an evaluation index of sympa－thetic function，SSR amplitudes can’t reveal the condition of radial artery accurately.