A review of methods for non-invasive and continuous blood pressure monitoring: Pulse transit time method is promising?

Most medical examinations include measuring of blood pressure because it is a very good indicator about the status of the cardiovascular system, and it helps medical doctors to adjust the ideal treatment. It would be very useful to know the profile of pressure values during long time period, especially during standard daily activities. It could be used for homecare monitoring and prevention of premature death. Problem is that blood pressure is monitored mainly at discrete time intervals and use an inflatable cuff placed around the arm, which is uncomfortable for the patient. Currently, there are a few technical solutions for continuous non-invasive measurement of blood pressure. This review is focused on the description of methods for continuous blood pressure measurement including their limitations and especially is focused on the description method based on pulse transit time. This method could be the most widely used of methods for non-invasive long time monitoring of blood pressure in the future but now there are still a lot of unsolved problems. (C) 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.