Sphygmomanometer

Last crawled date: 10 months, 1 week ago

The sphygmomanometer (or sphygmometer or sphygmoscope, pressure gauge) is a biomedical device used for measuring arterial pressure invented at the end of the nineteenth century, whose unit of measure is the millimeter of mercury (mmHg). The name derives from the combination of the Greek word sphygmòs, pulsation, pulse and pressure gauge (in turn composed by the Greek manòs, rare and métron, measure). The device was invented by the famous Neapolitan chemist Pietro Pulli (1771-1842) (C. Minieri-Riccio, Historical Memories of those born in the Kingdom of Naples, 1844) and according to some by Samuel Siegfried Karl Ritter von Basch in 1881. In 1896 Scipione Riva -Rocci introduced an improved version that was easier to use. Nikolai Sergeevič Korotkov perfected the measurement by identifying audible sounds in the brachial artery during deflation of the cuff. Harvey Cushing met this instrument in 1901, going to Pavia to learn the use of clinical sphygmomanometry and introduced it in the United States, bringing a lowering of operative mortality from anesthesia. Since knowledge of a patient's blood pressure is significant and since diseases such as hypertension are widespread in the Western world, it is critical that staff are trained to use this tool to ensure maximum accuracy. House sphygmomanometers, now mostly electronic, are only used to perform a routine check. #Sphygmomanometer