Ambulatory monitoring of the intra arterial blood pressure (IBP), through the Selyg-Oxford System, has been used so far primarily for studies on hypertension. Aim of our study is to explore the possibility of obtaining from IBP indications useful to extend its field of application. The study will investigate: 1) the usefulness of the continuous monitoring of the systolic time intervals (STI), measured from IBP as ventricular performance indicators, 2) the increasing of specificity of the ECG allowed by the simultaneous beat by beat estimate of the STI's, 3) the possibility of achieving the same information from non invasive peripheral pressure transducers.

In this paper we are presenting the results obtained from the combined analysis of the STI's, ECG and IBP in a first series of 13 patients, selected out of 50 on the basis of the highest number of episodes of IBP variations, to allow the evaluation of the algorithms performances in severe conditions.