The blood pressure of upper and lower limbs in elderly patients under general anesthesia for cataract surgery

Abstract

Background: During anesthesia, measurement of blood pressure is often obtained from the upper limb. In cataract surgery the arms are not easily available and blood pressure reading may be obtained from the lower limbs. The relationship between the blood pressure measurements at the two sites in elderly patients undergoing general anesthesia is unclear. This study was designed to evaluate the difference observed in systolic blood pressure (SBP) taken from the upper limb (UL) and the lower limb (LL) in geriatric patients under general anesthesia for cataract surgery. Material & Methods: 113 Patients undergoing cataract surgery in supine position were selected. The blood pressure cuff was placed on right arm, right leg, left arm and left leg respectively. Before and then 20 minutes after induction of anesthesia, the systolic blood pressure (SBP) readings were taken by finger palpation from the 4 limbs using the manual mercury sphygmomanometer. The same sphygmomanometer was used to make consecutive recordings from 4 limbs. The data were analyzed using paired t-test and ANOVA. Results: We found that SBP reading taken from the legs are significantly higher than arm pressures (P