Pulsations in the Blood Pressure Cuff: Oscillations or Arterial Pulses?

Most automatic blood pressure monitors use the so-called oscillometric method. The method evaluates amplitudes of arterial pulses elicited in the cuff during blood pressure measurement. These pulses are commonly called "oscillations". The objective of this study was to show that the contours of pulses in the cuff are arterial waveforms rather than oscillations. An experimental computer-based system for data acquisition and processing was used to acquire and process wrist cuff pulses and finger photoplethysmographic waveforms. The wrist cuff pulse contours were compared to radial artery pulse contours acquired by other methods. The comparison revealed that wrist cuff waveforms acquired at or below diastolic pressure exhibit properties of radial artery waveforms as obtained by other invasive or noninvasive methods. New terms "cuff-pulse method" and "cuff-arterial waveforms" were proposed.