• Moussa Riachy and Madona Azar.
• Service de Pneumologie et de Réanimation médicale, CHU Hôtel-Dieu de France, Beyrouth, Liban. riachy@dm.net.lb
• J Med Liban. 2006 Jan 1;54(1):17-21.

ObjectiveThe goal of this study is to compare three techniques for the measurement of arterial blood pressure (invasive (I), oscillometric (O), and sphygmomanometric (S)) in critically ill patients to determine if the noninvasive techniques can replace the arterial catheterization, and to see whether the relation between these three methods varies over time.Material And MethodsThiyty-three patients were recruited in the medical critical care unit at Hôtel-Dieu de France hospital. Each patient included had an arterial catheter inserted in the right femoral artery. The cuff of the oscillometer was positioned on the level of the right arm and measurements by sphygmomanometric technique were carried out on the level of the left arm. All measurements were taken at the same time, three times per day, during the patient stay in the critical care unit.ResultsThe study period was five days with an overall of fifteen measurements for each technique. At t0, the calculation of the correlation coefficients of Spearman showed a very good correlation between the three measurements techniques for systolic (I/O: r = 0.7258, p < 0.001; I/S: r = 0.8824, p < 0.001; O/S: r = 0.8675, p < 0.001), diastolic (I/O: r = 0.7620, p < 0.001; I/S: r = 0.7910, p < 0.001; O/S: r = 0.7152, p < 0.001) and mean (I/O: r = 0.7725, p < 0.001; I/S: r = 0.8221, p < 0.001; O/S: r = 0.8363, p < 0.001) pressures. Between t1 and t15, analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that the three methods remained well correlated (systolic p = 0.175; diastolic p = 0.107; mean p = 0.550). The calculation of the limits of agreement between the three techniques showed a lack of agreement between the invasive technique and the sphygmomanometric technique in 25% of the cases, and a good agreement between invasive and oscillometric techniques in 87.5% of the cases.ConclusionOscillometry can replace the direct intra-arterial standard technique for the monitoring of the blood pressure in the intensive care unit. In contrast, the sphygmomanometry in the ICU gives inaccurate results that could lead to inappropriate therapeutic attitudes.

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