Miniaturization of a Finger-Worn Blood Pressure Instrument

Blood pressure monitoring using a traditional arm cuff device is often inconvenient and possibly painful. We present a miniature cuffless tonometric finger probe system, that uses the oscillometric method to measure blood pressure (BP). A small enough device could be used for convenient ambulatory measurement and be worn during sleep with minimal discomfort. In addition to BP, the device is able to collect arterial pulse wave data that can further be used to derive other cardiovascular parameters, such as heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV) and central aortic systolic pressure (CASP). The device uses a motor controlled press that is used to apply pressure to the finger tip to measure the oscillometric response. We verified the functionality of the device by proof-of-concept measurements. Lastly we evaluate methods for further developing the concept and discuss the future directions.