Morphological changes of pressure pulses in oscillometric non-invasive blood pressure measurements

The oscillometric method is the most widely used method for automatic non-invasive blood pressure measurements. An oscillometric device computes systolic and diastolic blood pressures from pressure oscillations in the cuff during slow deflation. Normally only the envelope of the pressure oscillations in the cuff is used. A closer look at these oscillations shows that the morphology of the oscillation pulses is changing during the deflation. The evolution of morphology is different from person to person indicating that further information about cardiovascular status is present in the data morphology. We present a set of morphology characteristics of pressure oscillations in a small group of adults. Greater knowledge of morphology could lead to a better accuracy of blood pressure monitoring in the medical and home use.