24hrs Ambulatory Blood Pressure

Is when your blood pressure is being measured as you move around, living your normal daily life. It is normally carried over 24 hours. It uses a small digital blood pressure machine that is attached to a belt around your body and which is connected to a cuff around your upper arm. It small enough that you can go about your normal daily life and even sleep with it on. The machine then takes blood pressure readings at regular intervals throughout the day: usually, every 15-30 minutes during the daytime and 30-60 minutes at night. You will need to keep the monitor on through the night – you could put the machine under the pillow or on the bed while you sleep. Because the test is being carried out to find out what your normal daily blood pressure is, it is important to carry on with your normal routine and do all the things you would normally do. The only things you should avoid doing for the day are swimming and having a bath or shower. At the end of the 24 hours you can remove the machine and cuff and give it back to the hospital or surgery. The machine will have stored all your readings and these will then be analysed.

Evaluates the blood pressure over 24 hours for the assessment of efficacy of anti-hypertensive management, or to establish a diagnosis of hypertension in a patient in whom office readings are not diagnostic.

The ambulatory 24 Hour BP is performed using the multimodal operational "Novacor Diasys Interga 11" which measures and records blood pressure in Oscillometric and Auscultatory modes. It measures systole, diastole, mean blood pressure and heart rate for up to 24hours.

The Diasys Interga II unit weighs approximately 130g and is attached to the patient's cuff with a tubing system.