Low frequency arterial wall movements for indirect blood pressure measurement in man. Validation of a method for non-invasive assessment of blood pressure under the influence of isoprenaline and angiotensin.

In order to measure blood pressure noninvasively, the second derivative of the low frequency wall movements of the brachial artery were registered with a piezo-electric pressure probe during deflation of a Riva-Rocci cuff along with the actual cuff pressure. Two characteristic phenomena of this signal have been suggested to reflect systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Appearance of a positive spike phenomenon (S) was suggested to indicate systolic blood pressure and disappearance of a negative preanacrotic notch (D) to indicate diastolic blood pressure. To prove the validity of these suggestions, these phenomena were assessed in 10 young healthy males during isoprenaline and angiotensin induced changes of blood pressure. Intraarterial (A. radialis) and auscultatory (A. brachialis) blood pressures were recorded simultaneously. Determination of systolic blood pressure with the S phenomenon agreed well with invasive and auscultatory results. Invasive diastolic values agreed well with the cuff pressure at the last signal before disappearance of the preanacrotic notch (D1). Data from auscultation agreed less well with the D1 phenomenon. With increasing doses of isoprenaline, the diastolic measurements (D1) tended to be lower than the invasive ones. However, this discrepancy was far discreeter than that seen with ordinary auscultatory blood pressure measurement. We therefore conclude that registrations of low frequency arterial wall movements yield distinct characteristic spike phenomena useful for measurement of blood pressure in good agreement with the invasive method. In addition, the method provides clearly documented records and should be useful in situations which rely on a valid indirect method.