Blood pressure and heart rate monitoring method and apparatus
First Claim
1. Ambulatory patient blood pressure monitoring and recording apparatus comprising:
- means for monitoring and recording a patient'"'"'s blood pressure over a given interval of time;
means operatively connected with said monitoring-recording means for qualitatively characterizing such recorded blood pressure, said characterizing means including means for evaluating such blood pressure based upon predetermined criteria including the number of Korotkoff sounds detected over said given interval of time to produce quality indicia regarding the merit of such recorded blood pressure, said characterizing means further including means for encoding such quality indicia to produce symbolic data interpretable as being representative of such quality indicia.
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Abstract
Improved ambulatory blood pressure and heart rate monitoring and recording apparatus and method are described. The apparatus uses an auscultatory transducer connected to a microprocessor-based circuit for sensing, validating and recording systolic and diastolic pressure in the cuff-surrounded limb of the patient, and for measuring heart rate. The improved method calculates, and records in the same blood pressure and heart rate data record, an alphanumeric figure of merit, or alternatively a numeric quality index, based upon Korotkoff sound frequency and amplitude criteria. In another improved method, the maximum pressure to which the cuff is pressurized for each measurement is made to track the individual patient'"'"'s systolic blood pressure to ensure reliable blood pressure readings without unneccessary constriction of the patient'"'"'s limb.
137 Citations
12 Claims
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1. Ambulatory patient blood pressure monitoring and recording apparatus comprising:
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means for monitoring and recording a patient'"'"'s blood pressure over a given interval of time; means operatively connected with said monitoring-recording means for qualitatively characterizing such recorded blood pressure, said characterizing means including means for evaluating such blood pressure based upon predetermined criteria including the number of Korotkoff sounds detected over said given interval of time to produce quality indicia regarding the merit of such recorded blood pressure, said characterizing means further including means for encoding such quality indicia to produce symbolic data interpretable as being representative of such quality indicia. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. An improved ambulatory patient blood pressure monitoring method, for use with means for detecting the Korotkoff sounds produced by such patient'"'"'s pulse, comprising:
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monitoring and recording blood pressure data over a given time interval, evaluating the number of Korotkoff sounds which meet predetermined criteria over said interval of time to produce indicia of the quality of such blood pressure data; and encoding said quality indicia to produce symbolic data which is interpretable as indicative of the quality of such blood pressure data. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An ambulatory patient blood pressure monitoring method for the long-term monitoring and recording of blood pressure data by successive pressurizations of a cuff surrounding a limb of the patient, comprising:
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elevating the pressure of such cuff to a predefined first maximum value; measuring the patient'"'"'s systolic blood pressure; comparing said measured systolic blood pressure with said first maximum value; calculating a second maximum value, based upon said first maximum value and the result of said comparing, in such manner that said second maximum value is closer than said first maximum value to a predefined range of pressure values above such systolic blood pressure; and substituting said predefined first maximum value by said second maximum value for subsequent pressurization of such cuff;
therebyestablishing and thereafter maintaining the pressure to which the cuff is elevated during successive pressurizations thereof within such predefined range of pressure values above successively measured systolic blood pressures. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12)
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Specification