Arterial line - Tips and techniques

Description

Cardiovascular physiology in the intensive care unit represents one of the areas in which the bedside technology and basic physiologic principles learned in the laboratory can be combined to produce an effect that influences patient care daily Intra-arterial cannulae in the radial artery are used for invasive arterial blood pressure (IABP) measurement and for collection of blood for analysis. Arterial lines are the gold standard for accurate blood pressure measurement. They may be used in intensive care and high dependency units and in anesthetized patients undergoing surgical procedures. An understanding of basic principles enables arterial lines to be used safely in these settings. Flow to tissues is crucially dependent on mean blood pressure. This pressure is not simply an average of the systolic and diastolic pressures but is weighted more towards the diastolic pressure - one-third the sum of systolic plus twice the diastolic pressure. A knowledge of the mean arterial pressure is also required for the calculation of systemic vascular resistance and is often given automatically by many of the electrical monitors of blood pressure and cardiac output. This presentation deals with various techniques and  challenges in arterial line monitoring.