• A A Birch and S L Morris.
• Department of Medical Physics and Bioengineering, Mailpoint 29, Southampton General Hospital, Tremona Road, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK. tony.birch@suht.swest.nhs.uk
• Physiol Meas. 2003 Aug 1;24(3):653-60.

AbstractThe objective of this work was to determine if systematic differences exist between blood pressure time series measured by two non-invasive techniques. Cerebral blood flow autoregulation is often measured while a change in blood pressure is induced by deflation of thigh cuffs. To interpret the result a continuous measurement of arterial blood pressure is required. The Finapres is a non-invasive blood pressure monitor that is often used when assessing autoregulation but there is uncertainty about its reliability. A more recent device, the Colin tonometer, uses radial artery tonometry, which may prove to be a more reliable non-invasive method of obtaining a blood pressure waveform. Twenty healthy volunteers were recruited; blood pressure trends following cuff deflation were measured simultaneously with a Finapres and a Colin tonometer. A significant difference was found between the blood pressure waveforms measured with the two devices. The most striking difference was a slower recovery time measured with the Finapres (Wilcoxon signed rank test P < 0.001). Peripheral vasoaction may be distorting the measurement of blood pressure by the Finapres. This would account for the difference that exists between the techniques. Comparison with a direct arterial line would confirm which non-invasive measurement is more accurate.

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