Color Doppler ultrasound-guided botulinum toxin type A injection combined with an ankle foot brace for treating lower limb spasticity after a stroke.

OBJECTIVE To explore the effectiveness of the color Doppler ultrasound-guided botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A) injection combined with an ankle foot brace (AFO) for treating lower limb spasticity after a stroke. PATIENTS AND METHODS A total of 103 post-stroke patients with lower limb spasticity were divided into three groups: the control group treated with conventional therapy and rehabilitation training, the observation group treated with conventional therapy, rehabilitation training and botulinum toxin type A injection, the treatment group treated with AFO plus the same treatment received by the observation group. The muscle spasms were evaluated using the Clinic Spasticity Influx (CSI), movement with the Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA), dynamic and static balance with the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), and daily life activities with the Functional Independence Measure (FIM), respectively. RESULTS Compared the first month after treatment with the prior treatment, there were significant differences in CSI, FMA and FIM scores in both control group and the observation group (p < 0.05). However, no differences were noticed in the control group (p > 0.05). Compared the third and sixth month after treatment with prior treatment, there were significant differences in these three groups (p < 0.05). In terms of treatment time, the BBS scores were always higher in all three groups after one month, three months and six months treatment than prior treatment (p < 0.05), and there were significant differences in third month and sixth month after treatment compared with the first month treatment (p < 0.05). Compared the third month after treatment with the sixth month, there were significant differences in all three groups (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS The color Doppler ultrasound-guided BTX-A injection combined with AFO can effectively promote patients with post-stroke lower limb spasticity in lower limb muscle spasm, movement, balance and daily life activities.