Objective: The estimation of central haemodynamics is discussed to assess more preciously the pressure load on the cardiovascular system in hypertension. In addition to SphygmoCor® (Atcor Medical, Sydney Australia), a new device for non-invasive assessment of central haemodynamics (BPro® device with A-Pulse®, HealthSTATS, Singapore) was approved by FDA.

Design and Method: Patients (N=52) undergoing invasive elective cardiac evaluation were tagged prior to the cardiac catheterization with a standard oscillometric blood pressure device and the BPro® device at the same arm. Immediately after the invasive measurement of central haemodynamics, radial artery waveforms were sampled by two non-invasive techniques, the B-Pro® with A-Pulse® and with the SphygmoCor® System. Thereafter, central haemodynamics was measured invasively for a second time.

Results: There was a high agreement between the invasively recorded central systolic blood pressure (cSBP) (137±27mmHg) and both non-invasively assessed cSBP by B-Pro® (136±21mmHg, p=0.627 vs. invasive cSBP) and by SphygmoCor® (136±23mmHg, p=0.694 vs. invasive cSBP). Moreover, there was a high correlation of cSBP between invasively recorded and both non-invasively assessed cSBP by B-Pro® (r=0.893, p<0.001) and by SphygmoCor® (r=0.860, p<0.001). Given in absolute values, cSBP differed only in 0.1±6mmHg (p=0.913) between the two non-invasive devices. However, only SphygmoCor® showed an acceptable assessment of heart rate. Conclusions: Both non-invasive devices showed an accurate agreement in cSBP compared with invasively measured cSBP. However, only SphygmoCor® showed an acceptable assessment of heart rate in contrast to B-Pro® compared to invasive recording.