Arterial Pressure Monitoring

Excerpt

Hemodynamic monitoring is important in the care of any hospitalized patient. Frequent monitoring is of utmost importance in critically ill patients and surgical patients with an increased risk of morbidity and mortality. This can be achieved through intermittent monitoring, which is non-invasive but only provides snapshots in time, or by continuous invasive monitoring. The most common way to do this is arterial pressure monitoring via the cannulation of a peripheral artery. Each cardiac contraction exerts pressure, which results in mechanical motion of flow within the catheter. The mechanical motion is transmitted to a transducer via a rigid fluid-filled tube. The transducer converts this information into electrical signals, which are transmitted to the monitor. The monitor displays a beat-to-beat arterial waveform and numerical pressures (see Figure. Arterial Waveform). This provides the care team with continuous information about the patient's cardiovascular system and can be used for diagnosis and treatment.