Non-invasive oscillometric measurement of systolic, mean and diastolic blood pressure in infants with congenital heart defects after operation. A comparison with direct blood pressure measurements

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Abstract
The accuracy of indirect oscillometric blood pressure measurements has been evaluated in 32 infants up to 11 months of age undergoing heart surgery. In a number of 1029 simultaneous measurements the indirect blood pressure was compared with the direct value obtained from a radial artery catheter. Cuffs of different sizes were applied. The main results were as follows: (1) Regarding the ratio of cuff width to arm circumference, the best correlation between oscillometric and direct blood pressure measurements was obtained with a ratio of 0.38–0.41. (2) The value of indirect blood pressure measurements depends on the absolute height of the blood pressure. In low blood pressure there is a tendency to underestimate and in high blood pressure there is a tendency to overestimate by the oscillometric blood pressure measurement. By applying an appropriate cuff size and by using our diagrams it should be possible to derive a direct value for the blood pressure on the basis of indirect oscillometric blood pressure measurements.