COMPARISON OF THE FINAPRES AND DIRECT ARTERIAL PRESSURE MONITORING DURING PROFOUND HYPOTENSIVE ANAESTHESIA

The Finapres was compared with direct intraarterial pressuremonitoring in 10 patients undergoing local resection of choroidalmelanoma, an operation that requires a period of profound hypotension.Good agreement was recorded for systolic arterial pressure andheart rate over a range of pressures. However, agreement ofmean and diastolic pressures was poor, with the Finapres tendingto overestimate these values. In cases requiring profound hypotension,direct arterial pressure monitoring remains the method of choice.