Sphygmomanometer (redirected from Pressure cuff)

sphygmomanometer [¦sfig·mō·mə′näm·əd·ər]

(medicine)

An instrument for measuring the arterial blood pressure.

---

Sphygmomanometer 

an instrument for measuring the arterial blood pressure indirectly. There are two types of sphygmomanometer: the mercury, or Riva-Rocci sphygmomanometer, named after the Italian pediatrician S. Riva-Rocci, who designed it in 1896, and the membrane sphygmomanometer, generally called a tonometer.

The sphygmomanometer has a manometer and is equipped with a rubber pressure cuff covered with closely woven cloth, a pressure bulb with air valves, T-pipe, and a screw valve for reducing pressure. The auscultatory, or acoustic, method of N. S. Korotkov is the usual method of measuring arterial pressure indirectly. The pressure cuff is generally wrapped around the shoulder and inflated with air in order to compress the brachial artery and arrest the flow of blood in it. The capsule of a phonendoscope is positioned at the anterior part of the elbow joint, and air is gradually released from the cuff; a note is made of the manometer reading at which Korotkov sounds are audible in the phonendoscope. At this moment, the pressure in the cuff corresponds to the systolic (maximum) blood pressure in the brachial artery. The sounds disappear as more air is released from the cuff. At the moment when the sounds cease, the pressure is equal to the diastolic (minimum) pressure. Automatic devices have been designed to monitor blood pressure in seriously ill persons. They are modeled on the sphygmomanometer and detect sounds by means of a microphone.

N. K. SARADZHEV