Long-term ambulatory monitoring of indirect arterial blood pressure using a volume-oscillometric method

A new portable instrument equipped with a microprocessor was designed for the long-term ambulatory monitoring of indirect arterial pressure in the human finger at desired intervals using a volume-oscillometric technique. All the necessary procedures such as (1) programmed control of cuff pressure, (2) detection of the systolic end-point and the point of maximum amplitude of arterial volume pulsations, (3) reading of the cuff pressures corresponding to these two points, (4) its processing and (5) recording of the systolic and mean pressure together with heart rate on a digital memory integrated circuit were performed automatically. After the monitoring, the data were reproduced and analysed by a conventional personal computer. Simultaneous comparison of the data with direct measurement, operation and evaluation of this instrument, and ambulatory monitoring were carried out. With this instrument noninvasive and accurate monitoring of arterial pressure could be made in unrestricted subjects during daily activities.