Researchers validated a novel wearable ultrasound blood pressure (BP) sensor, confirming its accuracy and safety across diverse clinical settings. This non-invasive sensor offers continuous, reliable BP monitoring, maintaining calibration for up to one year and adapting to various patient conditions. Study: Clinical validation of a wearable ultrasound sensor of blood pressure .
Image Credit: Scarfsinn / Shutterstock.com A recent study published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering discusses the results of validation studies assessing the accuracy of a novel wearable blood pressure (BP) sensor in clinical settings. Current methods for BP measurement The sphygmomanometer, the most frequently used tool to measure BP, uses an inflatable upper arm cuff and measures BP over the brachial artery.
This tool provides separate measurements for diastolic and systolic BP that are isolated from each other by the time needed for each inflation-deflation cycle. Continuous BP assessment currently relies on the use of an arterial line (A-line). However, this method is often painful and invasive, limiting its use to critical care patients.
Other techniques, like photoplethysmography, depend on local blood volume changes that are correlated with BP. This method is confined to capillaries less than eight millimeters (mm) deep, and the observed changes are significantly different from those in the brachial artery. Recent advances in BP sensors Wearable mechanical sensors are non-invasive, .