Internal carotid blood flow velocity in children with cerebral palsy by Doppler Ultrasound method.

Cerebral blood flow assessed noninvasively by Doppler ultrasound technique in 30 children with cerebral palsy. The average maximal blood velocity (A/L) and end-diastolic blood velocity (d) of internal carotid artery were measured before and during brief digital compression of contralateral common carotid artery. Both A/L and d values in children with cerebral palsy were significantly lower than those observed in normal healthy children. In 13 children with spastic hemiplegia, no significant difference in either A/L or d was seen between the non-affected side and affected side both before and during brief digital compression. This data suggests that mean cerebral blood flow decreases in our children with cerebral palsy, and that no lateralization of the decrease in hemispheric cerebral circulation in hemiplegic children may explain by supposing the existence of generalized bilateral brain damage in those subjects.