Use of a needle valve variable resistor to improve invasive blood pressure monitoring.

Inaccurate measurements using in-line systems are partly due to the resonance frequency. A variable acoustic resistor designed to change the damping coefficient of these monitoring systems was evaluated under clinical conditions. The device improved pressure transmission characteristics in measurements on 12 of 13 patients. Use of the device and of the bedside step-impulse test for calibration should improve the reliability of in-line blood pressure monitoring.