Abstract
Photoplethysmography (PPG) can be used to measure systolic blood pressure at the brachial artery. With a specially designed probe, positioned in the most distal position beneath a pressure cuff on the upper arm, this is possible. The distance between the light source (880 nm) and the photodetector was 20 mm. A test was performed on neuro-intensive care patients by determining blood pressure from the PPG curves, and, when it was compared with systolic blood pressure obtained from inserted indwelling arterial catheters, a correlation factor of r=0.95 was achieved. The difference between blood pressure obtained using PPG and invasive blood pressure measurement was 3.9±9.1 mmHg (mean±SD), n=19. The depth to the brachial artery was 13.9±4.1 mm (mean±SD), n=18. A digital PPG system utilising pulsating light was also developed.
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Laurent, C., Jönsson, B., Vegfors, M. et al. Non-invasive measurement of systolic blood pressure on the arm utilising photoplethysmography: development of the methodology. Med. Biol. Eng. Comput. 43, 131–135 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02345134
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02345134