Objectives: To investigate the lower extremity blood flow in hemiplegic patients with a quantitative Doppler ultrasound examination of the common femoral artery(CFA).

Methods
Cross-sectional area(CSA), peak systolic velocity(PSV) and inflow volume(IV) of CFA of normal and paralyzed limbs in 24 hemiplegic patients were measured with a Doppler ultrasound. Patients were divided into three groups according to the ambulation levels: 1) nonambulator, 2) assisted ambulator, and 3) independent ambulator. The results from Doppler images of paralyzed lower extremity were compared with the normal side in each three different groups.

Results
In the nonambulator group, the three parameters were not significantly different between normal and paralyzed lower extremity. In the assisted ambulator group, the CSA of the paralyzed lower extremity was significantly smaller than the normal side (p＜0.05). In the independent ambulator group, the CSA and IV of the paralyzed lower extremity were significantly smaller than the normal side (p＜0.05).

Conclusion
The results of this study proved that the blood flow of the paralyzed lower extremity was diminished than the normal side in hemiplegic patients especially for the independent ambulator group.