PMS Instruments: When should abpm be used

Frequently Asked Questions

When Should Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring Be Used?

Since blood pressure problems can manifest themselves in so many ways, it is believed that, in the future, there will be many patient symptoms which will require ABP monitoring.

The following are just a few of the occasions where ABP is currently being employed:

SYNCOPE - When a patient experiences episodes where they lose consciousness (faint), the problem could be low blood pressure, or hypotension. Since these evens might be infrequent or unpredictable, the only reliable way to gather blood pressure information is with an ambulatory unit.
WHITE COAT HYPERTENSION - This is when a patient consistently has high blood pressure readings in the doctors' offices, but shows no other signs (such as an enlarged heart) of hypertension. These patients may take their own blood pressure readings at home with an inexpensive commercial unit and report "normal" readings. These are the patients who may be improperly placed on hypertension medication. While the psychology of wearing an Ambulatory Unit has not been studied, it is thought that pressure measurements taken outside the doctors' office, without a physician present, will more closely reflect the true pressure of the patient.

BORDERLINE HYPERTENSION - Patients whose "in-office" measurement are high, but not enough to warrant medication, should wear a monitor for 24 hours to check the true high and low level measurements.

POSTURAL HYPERTENSION - these patients may experience "light-headed" episodes when standing up quickly.

MONITORING ANTI-HYPERTENSIVE DRUGS - A patient on anti-hypertensive drugs may complain of fatigue or dizziness. They may in fact be hypotensive during some part of the day due to the drug they are taking. A 24 hour monitor could be used to track their response to the medicines they are taking.
Despite ail of the evidence that multiple measurements of blood pressure are indeed necessary to accurately diagnose and treat hypertension, the fact remains that office measurements continue to be the most routine means of diagnosis and therapy, and many patients are not only mislabeled as hypertensive, but often undergo costly and unnecessary pharmaceutical regimes for non-existent hypertensive conditions. Many times these individuals are placed in the dangerous position of receiving unwarranted chemicals into their bodies which can create undesirable secondary conditions