Does radial artery pressure accurately reflect aortic pressure?
STUDY OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to determine whether the systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial pressures measured in the radial artery accurately reflect corresponding pressures in the ascending aorta in narcotic-anesthetized patients with known obstructive coronary artery disease, before being subjected to cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). DESIGN: This was a prospective study. SETTING: The cardiac operating room of a large, tertiary-care university medical center. PARTICIPANTS: Fifty-one patients (45 men and six women; age range, 48 to 77 years) with documented atherosclerotic coronary artery disease were studied. All patients underwent elective coronary artery bypass grafting after the study. INTERVENTIONS: Patients were premedicated with lorazepam and morphine 60 min before administration of Fentanyl-pancuronium anesthesia. The radial artery was cannulated before induction of anesthesia and the aorta approximately 45 min later. Comparisons of radial and aortic pressures were then pe
