Blood-pressure primer : the sphygmomanometer and its practical application / by Francis Ashley Faught.

  • Faught, Francis Ashley, 1881-1963.
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Blood-pressure primer : the sphygmomanometer and its practical application / by Francis Ashley Faught. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    upon the larynx, pharynx and nasal chambers often show these reflexes. These same considerations enter into tlic question of operating in extreme conditions, resulting from rapidly developing or neglected surgical conditions. The sphygmomanometer, in conjunction with the pulse, is the quickest and surest means at our com- mand with which to arrive at the proper decision, and the blood-pressure test has undoubtedly been the means of saving many lives under the conditions mentioned above. When to Operate.—A fair or normal blood-pressure is always a good indication of the state of the vaso- motor system, because vasodilatation invariably results in hypotension, and the degree of hypotension fairly indicates the severity of shock. An extremely rapid pulse, associated either with a lowered blood-pressure or with one approximately normal, is an indication of a poor or shocked heart- muscle—one unlikely to withstand the strain of anes- thesia. The sphygmomanometer is often the means of deter- mining the safe time to operate. Thus a dangerous condition of the cardiomotor and vasomotor mechan- ism will indicate appropriate restorative treatment, and will demonstrate plainly whether such measures are successful. The surgeon will thus be guided in his judgment as to the right time to operate. The newer methods of anesthesia have done much to improve the character, method and technic of their administration. The chief effort of the anesthetist of today is to gain relaxation with a minimum amount