ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Arterial tonometry is a noninvasive technique for monitoring the arterial blood pressure in a continuous manner. Real-time arterial blood pressure measurements are advantageous in many clinical settings, but arterial tonometric devices must be validated prior to clinical acceptance. Guidelines for accuracy for noninvasive blood pressure monitors have been established by the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation. OBJECTIVE: To test the Colin Pilot 9200 configured with an arterial tonometry module with 20 patients and to compare tonometric blood pressure measurements with intra-arterial blood pressure measurements. METHODS: All of the patients in the study were aged over 14 years and weighed over 35 kg; testing was performed in the operating room or in the intensive care unit. Data from each patient consisted of multiple simultaneous recordings of tonometric and intra-arterial blood pressure values. The data were then compared; the mean and SD of the difference between the two measurement devices were then calculated. RESULTS: Tonometric values were slightly less than the intra-arterial pressure measurements; the mean difference for systolic blood pressure was 2.24 +/- 8.7 mmHg and for diastolic pressure was 0.26 +/- 8.88 mmHg. CONCLUSION: The arterial tonometry module incorporated into the Colin Pilot 9200 was investigated for use with selected adult and pediatric populations. With our patients, it generated accurate data throughout a wide blood pressure range. It satisfied Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation standards for mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure measurements and only minimally exceeded the allowable SD. This technology should prove to be a valuable tool for noninvasive blood pressure monitoring of various patient populations.