Vibration technique for indirect measurement of diastolic arterial pressure in human fingers.

Diastolic pressure Pd was indirectly measured by vibrating a finger artery with a 10 Hz sinusoidal pressure variation during a gradual increase (or decrease) in occlusive cuff pressure Pc. Pulsatile arterial volume changes on which sinusoidal variations are superimposed were detected by a transmitted infra-red photoelectric plethysmograph (TIPP). It is known that volume change in an artery shows a maximum amplitude at the transmural pressure Pt level equal to 0 mm Hg due to the nonlinear viscoelastic properties of the arterial wall. For the same reason, the amplitude of the sinusoidal volume variation reached its maximum at the end-diastolic phase, when Pc was controlled to be exactly equal to Pd. The indirect Pd values determined from Pc were compared with those simultaneously measured by a direct method in rabbit forelegs and by the volume-compensation method in human fingers. Using the principle of the volume oscillometric method systolic and mean pressures were also determined by this system.