A novel method for measuring blood pressure

血压是心脏产生的压力，推动血液循环，供应大脑和肾脏等重要器官。测量血压在许多情况下都很重要：高血压会对心脏造成压力，并可能导致心脏病发作和中风;低血压会导致重要器官衰竭;在怀孕期间，高血压通常是先兆子痫（一个潜在的严重问题）正在发展的迹象。测量血压的一种老式方法是在上臂周围的橡胶袖带充气，用水银柱测量袖带中的压力，并用听诊器听手臂动脉的声音。虽然它可能是最准确的方法，但由于难以准确执行，而且汞具有潜在危险，因此正在逐步淘汰。现有的自动电子方法不如汞法准确，特别是在怀孕和运动期间（准确测量血压是重要的另一种情况）。这两种方法对重病患者都不起作用。我们开发了一种新的方法，该方法基于在上臂周围充气血压袖带时检测下臂中动脉的压力或运动的变化。当袖带中的压力变得大于动脉中的血压时，动脉壁被挤压，这改变了动脉进一步向下移动的手臂。这项研究的目的是开发软件，使这种方法自动工作，并检查它是否在某些情况下工作良好，如在运动期间，怀孕期间和危重病人。

Blood pressure is the pressure generated by the heart to push blood around the circulation to supply vital organs like the brain and the kidneys. Measurement of blood pressure is important in many situations: high blood pressure puts a strain on the heart and can lead to heart attacks and strokes; low blood pressure can cause vital organs to fail; during pregnancy high blood pressure is often the sign that pre-eclampsia , a potentially serious problem, is developing. An old fashioned method for measuring blood pressure involves inflating a rubber cuff around the upper arm, measuring the pressure in the cuff with a column of mercury and listening to sounds over the artery in the arm with a stethoscope. Although probably the most accurate method, it is being phased out because it is difficult to perform accurately and mercury is potentially hazardous. Existing automatic electronic methods are less accurate than the mercury method especially in pregnancy and during exercise (another situation in which accurate measurement of blood pressure is important). Neither method works well in seriously ill patients. We have developed a new method based upon detecting changes in pressure or movement of the artery in the lower arm while a blood pressure cuff is inflated around the upper arm. When pressure in the cuff becomes greater than blood pressure in the artery, the artery wall becomes squashed and this changes the movement of the artery further down the arm. The purpose of this research is to develop software that will make this method work automatically and to check that it works well in certain situations such as during exercise, in pregnancy and in critically ill patients.