In cases where patients in intensive care or undergoing major surgeries experience extreme blood pressure fluctuations, it can lead to significant organ dysfunction. For healthcare providers, merely recognizing that blood pressure is abnormal is insufficient. To administer the appropriate medication effectively, it is crucial to understand the underlying reasons for the change in blood pressure. Now, a new study introduces a mathematical framework that accurately derives that vital information in real-time.

Developed by researchers at the Picower Institute at MIT (Cambridge, MA, USA), this new mathematical framework can proportionately estimate the two main factors affecting blood pressure: cardiac output (the rate at which the heart pumps blood) and systemic vascular resistance (the resistance within the arteries to blood flow). The researchers tested this new approach on data previously gathered from animal models, demonstrating that their non-invasively obtained estimates from peripheral arterial blood pressure readings aligned precisely with those acquired using an invasive flow probe on the aorta.

Furthermore, these estimates accurately reflected changes brought about by various drugs used by clinicians to normalize blood pressure. According to findings published in IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, the derived values for resistance and cardiac output offer essential data that can be immediately utilized to make informed decisions in managing hemodynamics. Pending additional validation and regulatory approval, this technique could be used during critical medical procedures such as heart surgeries, liver transplants, and care in intensive units, enhancing treatment for conditions that impact cardiovascular function or blood volume.

“Any patient who is having cardiac surgery could need this,” said study senior author Emery N. Brown from The Picower Institute at MIT. “So might any patient undergoing a more normal surgery but who might have a compromised cardiovascular system such as ischemic heart disease. You can’t have the blood pressure being all over the place.” 

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