Validation of finger blood pressure monitoring in children.

Background: Continuous beat-to-beat blood pressure monitoring permits the rapid detection of blood pressure fluctuations for cardiovascular reflex testing and clinical haemodynamic monitoring. In adults, this can be achieved noninvasively with high accuracy, using finger blood pressure monitoring with volume clamp photoplethysmography. However, data are lacking on the validity of finger blood pressure monitoring in children compared to the gold standard - invasive intra-arterial blood pressure monitoring.

Intermittent calf compression reverses lower limb pooling and improves cardiovascular control during passive orthostasis.

When upright, venous pooling and capillary filtration reduce the effective circulating volume and are key contributors to susceptibility to syncope (fainting). Recurrent syncope has a devastating impact on quality of life. Static calf compression garments are frequently prescribed for patients with syncope, but have questionable efficacy.