A convenient method to verify the accuracy of oscillometric blood pressure monitors by the auscultatory method: A smartphone-based app.

It is recommended that oscillometric devices be calibrated by auscultation when first used, but this is difficult in practice. Here, we introduce a smartphone-based technique to verify the accuracy of blood pressure monitors (BPMs). We enrolled 99 consecutive subjects and tested 6 brands of BPMs in this study. During measurements of electronic oscillometric BPMs, Korotkoff sounds were simultaneously collected using a stethoscope head beneath a cuff connected to a smartphone, and an app named Accutension Stetho could then yield an auscultatory BP reading as a reference. Next, differences in BP between the different BPMs and Accutension Stetho were determined. The percentage of BP differences falling within 5, 10, and 15 mm Hg; the mean (MD) value; and the standard deviation (SD) of BP differences and deflation errors were analyzed among all the BPMs. We found that the percentages of SBP differences falling within 5 mm Hg of the 6 BPMs were 80%, 79%, 77%, 72%, 68%, and 63%, in turn. The deflation rates among the 6 BPMs were 2.23, 3.48, 6.10, 2.44, 3.66, and 4.85 mm Hg/beat, respectively. Deflation errors, which were defined as deflation prior to the end of the Korotkoff sounds, existed in 4 BPMs. In conclusion, Accutension Stetho could detect BP differences between oscillometric BPM readings and simultaneous auscultatory readings. Diastolic BP was overestimated when the device deflated prior to the end of the Korotkoff sounds. Using the app, it is possible to evaluate the accuracy of BPMs among the same subjects.

The beneficial effects of intracoronary autologous bone marrow stem cell transfer as an adjunct to percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with acute myocardial infarction.

The efficacy of post-percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) intracoronary injection with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) remains controversial. Here, 58 patients with AMI undergoing PCI were randomly divided into two groups: BMSC and control groups. Autologous BSMCs were then generated in vitro from the BMSC patients. After transplantation, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), left ventricular end-diastolic dimensions (LVDd), and infarct size (IS) were evaluated in both groups. LVEF, LVDd, and IS improved after BMSC transplantation but the changes were not significantly different from those in the controls. The number of adverse events and rehospitalization rates after 1 month were significantly higher in the control group than in the BMSC group. BMSC transplantation thus benefits patients by decreasing the number of adverse events and reducing the rehospitalization rate in the early stages following PCI.