Measurement of systolic blood pressure using pulse oximetry during helicopter flight.

OBJECTIVE

Monitoring of vital signs in critically ill patients during helicopter flight is difficult because of the noise and vibrations of the aircraft. We evaluated the use of a pulse oximeter to measure systolic BP intraflight.

DESIGN

Systolic BP measured by pulse oximetry was compared with systolic BP measured by the direct intra-arterial and the arterial occlusion methods intraflight. Systolic BP by pulse oximetry was measured by observing the return of the plethysmographic waveform of the pulse oximeter as the BP cuff ipsilateral to the pulse oximeter probe was slowly deflated. Arterial occlusion pressure was measured by observing the return of the intraarterial waveform as the BP cuff ipsilateral to the arterial cannula was slowly deflated.

SETTING

The study was performed during patient transport, intraflight.

PATIENTS

Ten critically ill patients were studied.

INTERVENTIONS

None

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

Seventy-three sets of measurements were recorded. The best correlation (r2 = .99) was found between pulse oximetry and the arterial occlusion method. The indirect methods correlated better with each other than with direct intraarterial measurements. The noise and the vibrations of the helicopter did not significantly interfere with the operation of the pulse oximeter.

CONCLUSIONS

We conclude that a pulse oximeter that displays a plethysmographic waveform can accurately measure systolic BP intraflight.