BP 126/70 mmHg as result on electronic sphygmomanometer

A sphygmomanometer (often condensed to sphygmometer[1]) or blood pressure meter is a device used to measure blood pressure, comprising an inflatable cuff to restrict blood flow, and a mercury or mechanical manometer to measure the pressure. It is always used in conjunction with a means to determine at what pressure blood flow is just starting, and at what pressure it is unimpeded. Manual sphygmomanometers are used in conjunction with a stethoscope. Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... A sphygmomanometer, a device used for measuring blood pressure. ... For other uses of the term cuff, see the disambiguation page. ... General Name, Symbol, Number mercury, Hg, 80 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 12, 6, d Appearance silvery Standard atomic weight 200. ... A manometer is a pressure measuring instrument, often also called pressure gauge. ... Stethoscope The stethoscope (Greek στηθοσκόπιο, of στήθος, stéthos - chest and σκοπή, skopé - examination) is an acoustic medical device for auscultation, or listening, to internal sounds in a human or animal body. ...

The word comes from the Greek sphygmus (pulse), plus the scientific term manometer (pressure meter). The device was invented by Samuel Siegfried Karl Ritter von Basch. Scipione Riva-Rocci, an Italian physician, introduced a more easily used version in 1896. Harvey Cushing discovered this device in 1901 and popularised it. A manometer is a pressure measuring instrument, often also called pressure gauge. ... Samuel Siegfried Karl Ritter von Basch (September 9, 1837, Prague - 1905) was a Czech-Austrian Jewish physician; best known as the body-physician of the emperor Maximilian of Mexico. ... Scipione Riva-Rocci (7 August 1863 — 15 March 1937) was an Italian internist and pediatrician. ... The Doctor by Luke Fildes This article is about the term physician, one type of doctor; for other uses of the word doctor see Doctor. ... Year 1896 (MDCCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display calendar). ... Harvey Williams Cushing (April 8, 1869 - October 7, 1939) an outstanding American neurosurgeon and a pioneer of brain surgery. ...

A sphygmomanometer usually consists of an inflatable cuff, a measuring unit (the mercury manometer), a tube to connect the two, and (in models that don't inflate automatically) an inflation bulb also connected by a tube to the cuff. The inflation bulb contains a one-way valve to prevent inadvertent leak of pressure while there is an adjustable screw valve for the operator to allow the pressure in the system to drop in a controlled manner.

Operation

The cuff is normally placed around the upper left arm, at roughly the same vertical height as the heart while the subject is in an upright position. The cuff is inflated until the artery is completely occluded. Listening with a stethoscope to the brachial artery at the elbow, the examiner slowly releases the pressure in the cuff. As the pressure in the cuffs falls, a "whooshing" or pounding sound is heard (see Korotkoff sounds) when bloodflow first starts again in the artery. The pressure at which this sound began is noted and recorded as the systolic blood pressure. The cuff pressure is further released until the sound can no longer be heard and this is recorded as the diastolic blood pressure. Look up ARM in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The heart and lungs, from an older edition of Grays Anatomy. ... Section of an artery For other uses, see Artery (disambiguation). ... Stethoscope The stethoscope (Greek στηθοσκόπιο, of στήθος, stéthos - chest and σκοπή, skopé - examination) is an acoustic medical device for auscultation, or listening, to internal sounds in a human or animal body. ... The brachial artery is a blood vessel of the upper arm. ... Elbow redirects here. ... Korotkoff sounds are the sounds that medical personnel listen for when they are taking blood pressure using a non-invasive procedure. ... Blood pressure is the pressure exerted by the blood on the walls of the blood vessels. ... Blood pressure is the pressure exerted by the blood on the walls of the blood vessels. ...

Significance

The peak pressure in the arteries during the cardiac cycle is the systolic pressure, and the lowest pressure (at the resting phase of the cardiac cycle) is the diastolic pressure. Cardiac cycle is the term used to describe the sequence of events that occur as a heart works to pump blood through the body. ...

Types

There are two types:

1. Digital (electronic, easy to operate and practical in noisy environment. Many have not been validated for all patient groups, and can give very inaccurate readings).They measure mean arterial pressure, MAP, and use algorithms to calculate systolic and diastolic values. In this sense, they do not actually measure the blood pressure, but derive the readings. Digital oscillometric monitors are also confronted with “special conditions” for which they are not designed to be used : arteriosclerosis, arrhythmia, preeclampsia, pulsus alternans, and pulsus paradoxus.
2. Manual (older fashioned, though more precise). Must be operated by a trained person.

Mercury manometers are considered to be the "Gold Standard" of measurement, because they do not go out of calibration. For this reason they are often required in clinical trials of pharmaceuticals and for clinical evaluations of determining blood pressure for high risk patients including pregnant women. Aneroid, mechanical, types are in common use, but should be checked against a mercury manometer if they are suspected to be out of calibration. A digital system is one that uses discrete values (often electrical voltages), especially those representable as binary numbers, or non-numeric symbols such as letters or icons, for input, processing, transmission, storage, or display, rather than a continuous spectrum of values (ie, as in an analog system). ... // Introduction Arteriosclerosis means the hardening of the arteries in Greek. ... A cardiac arrhythmia, also called cardiac dysrhythmia, is a disturbance in the regular rhythm of the heartbeat. ... Pre-eclampsia (previously called toxemia) is a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy. ... In medicine, a pulsus paradoxus (PP), also paradoxic pulse and paradoxical pulse, is an exaggeration of the normal variation in the pulse during the inspiratory phase of respiration, in which the pulse becomes weaker as one inhales and stronger as one exhales. ... Look up manual in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Bourdon Tube Type Indicator Side Mechanical Side Mechanical Details A pressure or vacuum gauge usually consists of a closed coiled tube (called a Bourdon tube) connected to the chamber or pipe in which pressure is to be sensed. ...

Gallery

Mechanical sphygmomanometer with aneroid manometer and stethoscope Conventional (mechanical) sphygmomanometer, used to measure blood pressure File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...

Digital sphygmomanometer Download high resolution version (2560x1920, 812 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...

Mercury manometer Image File history File links Mercury_manometer. ...

See also

More detail is given in the article on blood pressure. A sphygmomanometer, a device used for measuring blood pressure. ...

Patents

• U.S. Patent 2,560,237  : R. H. Miller : "Sphygmomanometer"
• U.S. Patent 6752764: Man S. Oh: "Pocket sphygmomanometer"