Comparison of continuous non-invasive finger arterial pressure monitoring with conventional intermittent automated arm arterial pressure measurement in patients under general anaesthesia.

Background: For a majority of patients undergoing anaesthesia for general surgery, mean arterial pressure (MAP) is only measured intermittently by arm cuff oscillometry (MAPiNIAP). In contrast, the Nexfin(®) device provides continuous non-invasive measurement of MAP (MAPcNIAP) using a finger cuff. We explored the agreement of MAPcNIAP and MAPiNIAP with the gold standard: continuous invasive MAP measurement by placement of a radial artery catheter (MAPinvasive).

Implications of automated creatine kinase (CK)-MM1,2,3/CK-MB1,2 isoform analysis as an early marker for the detection of myocardial tissue damage.

Measurement of creatine kinase (CK) isoforms enables the clinician to detect myocardial tissue damage at an early stage after myocardial infarction. According to the manufacturer's specifications, it should be possible to perform CK isoform analysis automatically using the new Cardio Rep analyser. In order to investigate the suitability of this new analyser we measured the CK MM1-3, and CK MB1 and 2 isoform patterns, firstly in 30 patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI), for whom total CK and CK-MB levels were ordered, and secondly in 23 patients with chest pain suspected as having AMI (n = 11) or with unstable angina pectoris (UAP) (n = 12).