New Technology for Accurate Blood Pressure Measurement

New Technology for Accurate

Blood Pressure Measurement 

by Patricia Ryan MD, CCN

From Alternatives Newsletter Summer 2011

Our heart is an amazing muscle - always working. When it beats it generates a pressure in the arteries to pump blood through the body - around 2000 gallons of blood each day! When blood pressure is too high there is an increased risk for heart attack, stroke, and kidney disease. Nearly everything we know about high blood pressure and its treatment is based on the measurement of the brachial artery blood pressure, which is the blood pressure in the arm.

According to a 2003 study by the European society of hypertension, a more accurate measurement is the central aortic blood pressure, which represents the true pressure the heart, brain, and other major organs actually see. In fact, studies show that the pressure measured at the arm is only 50% accurate in reflecting the pressure which is exerted at the aorta. The traditional way to monitor the CASP (central aortic systolic pressure) is through cardiac catheterization. It is an invasive procedure involving a catheter threaded in the femoral artery, dye, and radiation. At Alternatives, we can now determine your CASP with a new device that is completely non invasive and takes only a few minutes longer than a traditional blood pressure test, and is 99.17% accurate when benchmarked against cardiac catheterizations.

The CASPro device combines a traditional arm cuff to take brachial pressure, a wrist sensor that measures the radial pulse, and a computer which combines the readings using mathematical modeling to filter out the amplified portion of the pulse wave to arrive at the central aortic pressure. With each heartbeat a pulse wave radiates down the lining of the arteries to your fingers and toes and back to the heart. By examining the shape of the pulse wave we get more information about how well the heart is working. There are specific interventions that we can do to improve the health of your cardiovascular system. What I particularly like about this device is that its inexpensive, simple to do, and it will accurately show improvement when we do nutritional interventions. After giving you supplements we can check your central aortic pressure again and see improvement - it is nice immediate feedback that you are getting better and that your cardiovascular system is actually reversing some of its dysfunction.

Resources:
Save1Heart.com: Introductory video by Dr. Ting, explaining CASP device and pulsewave diagnosis

BBC.com: Device 'could revolutionise blood pressure monitoring'

Health Canal.com: Ground-breaking technology will revolutionize blood pressure measurement for first time for over a century

We can email the following research as .pdfs at your request, contact alternativesomaha@gmail.com

Hypertension - Journal of the American Heart Association, "Central Pressure More Strongly Relates to Vascular Disease and Outcome Than Does Brachial Pressure: The Strong Heart Study", May 7, 2007

Hypertension - Journal of the American Heart Association, "Central Blood Pressure Measurements and Antihypertensive Therapy: A Consensus Document", June 11, 2007

Bryan Williams MD FRCP FAHA, "Measurement of Ambulatory Central Aortic Pressure in Clinical Trials using BPro device", August 2008