Research Communications of the 24th ECVIM-CA Congress

The Doppler study was performed by three investigators and by using 3 different sphygmomanometers with 3 different sized cuffs. Devices and measurement sites were changed randomly among the investigators. Cuffs were wrapped around the antebrachium in the forelimb or around the mid-metatarsus in the hind limb. In addition to the limb sites, cuffs were also placed around the base of the tail in case of the HDO method. Cuff sizes were 45-78% of the measured limb circumferences during the Doppler measurement. For the HDO method all measurements were performed by the same investigator and the cuffs provided by the manufacturer were used: the smallest cuff was used for the hind limb and tail, and the medium cuff was used for the forelimb measurements. Dogs were gently held in lateral recumbent position, measurement were performed on the nondependent limbs. Radio-telemetry transducers were implanted to the right femoral artery some months to a year preceding the blood pressure measurements for reasons unrelated to our study. Direct blood pressures varied 110-214 mmHg and 139-192 mmHg during the Doppler and HDO measurements, respectively. Two-hundred paired simultaneous Doppler and direct measurements from 11 dogs and 100 paired simultaneous HDO and direct telemetric measurements from 7 dogs were obtained. At least 3 successful consecutive measurements could be obtained by the same investigator at the same site during the Doppler or HDO measurement in 53 and 22 cases, respectively. Thus, the mean of these measurements could be calculated similarly to the established everyday clinical practice. Bias (mean difference), precision (standard deviation) and limits of agreements were calculated both from the individual paired measurements and from the means of the consecutive measurements using Bland-Altman spot analysis.