Wrist cuff emulates auscultation in dual-cuff noninvasive blood pressure system

Manual and automatic blood pressure (BP) measurement methods have accuracy problems. This paper describes a new method that uses two cuffs to improve accuracy of BP measurement. A specially designed dual-cuff experimental system was used to acquire and process data from the two cuffs. The arm cuff provided cuff pressures (CP) and cuff arterial pulse waveforms. The arm cuff pulse pressure waveforms were used to compute mean arterial pressure (MAP), systolic pressure (SBP) and diastolic pressure (DBP) values. The SBP and DBP values were computed with characteristic ratio method. Wrist cuff waveforms were used for the emulation of auscultatory measurement of SBP and DBP. The obtained values were compared with values measured by the characteristic ratio arm cuff method.