Evaluation of the Penàz Servo-plethysmo-manometer for the Continuous, Non-invasive Measurement of Finger Blood Pressure

Blood pressure in the finger was measured by a servo-plethysmomanometer constructed after the design of Penàz, which uses the principle of the unloaded arterial wall. The device contains a photoelectric plethysmograph mounted in an inflatable cuff and an electro-pneumatic transducer to control air pressure in the cuff via a servosystem. Comparison of simultaneous measurements of intra-arterial pressure in the brachial artery was performed on 33 patients suspected of having hypertension. In 12 patients evaluation of the technique could not be carried out due to technical failures or distorted blood pressure wave forms. Results of the remaining 21 patients show a mean underestimation of intra-arterial blood pressure by finger cuff blood pressure of 0.8 kPa (6 mm Hg), both for systolic and diastolic levels. The scatter range of the difference is from 1.9 to -3.5 kPa for systolic and 0.1 to -2.5 kPa for diastolic values. It appears that, although not all technical problems are solved, the Penàz servo-plethysmo-manometer is potentially an elegant method by which to arrive at the fully calibrated wave form of blood pressure in a finger in a non-invasive and continuous fashion.