BP Values Difference Depending on the Height of Hand Position in Oscillometric Electronic Digital BP Monitor and Its Comparison with Mercury Sphygmomanometer

BACKGROUND: There is pressure difference depending on the height of hand position when blood pressure is taken, applying the oscillometric electronic digital BP(blood pressure) monitor. Authors have calculated the degree of BP differences, and evaluated the accuracy and effectiveness of the digital BP monitor comparing with the conventional Mercury Sphygmomanometer. METHOD: Randomized sixty cases consisting of in-patients and hospital workers were subjected for this study. BPs were taken at three different levels-nose level, heart level and knee level-on conventional sitting position applying OMRON Digital Automatic Blood Pressure Monitor and conventional Mercury Sphygmomanometer, and statistical analysis was made. RESULTS: At the nose level, systolic BP and diastolic BP were lower with 23.5mmHg and 18.9mmHg respectively, than at the heart level, while at the knee level, they were higher with 21mmHg and 17.5mmHg respectively, than at the heart level. No actual statistical difference of systolic and diastolic values between OMRON Digital Automatic Blood Pressure Monitoring method at the heart level and conventional Mercury Sphygmomanometeric method. CONCLUSION: Present study demonstrated significant discrepancy of BP values, in systolic and diastolic values, depending on the height of measured finger, when OMRON Digital Automatic Blood Pressure Monitor is applied in taking BP on conventional sitting position. However, no actual discrepancy of BP values was noted between two methods when BP is taken at heart level by OMRON Digital Automatic Blood Pressure Monitor and on brachial artery BP by conventional Mercury Sphygmomanometer. Thus OMRON Digital Automatic Blood Pressure Monitor could take the place of Mercury Sphygmomanometer in taking peripheral BP, which subsequently enable us to estimate central artery BP, which is believed to be better clinical index, through this much more handy electrical oscillometric device in the future.

IntuInfantile Acute Febrile Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome Report of 4 cases

Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome(MLNS), a recently recognized entity was first reported by Dr. T. Kawasaki in Japan in 1967 and then about 12,000 cases have been reported since 1967; it is now being found in the United States, but it's etiology is still unknown. The characteristic symptoms is high fever, hypermia of conjunctivae and sclera, reddening of lips and oral cavity, palmer and solar erythema with desqumation and swelling of cervical lymph nodes. Authors insisted that this entity was quite distinct from periarteritis nodosa, Steven-Johnson syndrome, scarlet fever, erythema multiforme and in many ways. We experienced four cases of it and all cases were male and three or them were under the age of two years. All cases had the episodes of high fever, and three of them showed the characteristic symptoms of desquamation, indurtive edema and cervical lymphnodes swelling. In our cases, the fever was continued for about 13 days and desquamation appeared near the end of second weeks of illness. This disease has been treated with various antibiotics and aspirin, but the key point of treatment is how to prevent the complications. From these cases, it may be an interesting disease entity which might be evaluated by careful investigations and follow up study.