Human Anatomy

Human Anatomy and Physiology 1

MOD002739

Assessment 2

Part A

The cardiovascular and respiratory systems

Blood pressure

1) Korotkoff sounds are produced due to the turbulence of the blood when blood pressure cuff is applied. Before inflating the cuff, the blood in arteries flow in laminar way creating little vibration on arterial sound resulting to no sounds. But as the pressure cuff gets inflated, the artery gets constricted completely, restricting the blood flow causing no sound to be produced. As the cuff pressure is slowly deflated, the artery starts to be slightly constricted therefore blood starts to flow in turbulent way producing the Korotkoff sounds. The pressure, at which the sound is heard, is the systolic pressure.

As the cuff pressure is further more deflated, the Korotkoff sounds will continue to be produced until the cuff pressure reaches the diastolic pressure. At this point, the sounds disappear, marking the diastolic pressure.

Diastolic pressure is the pressure calculated in between the heartbeats so measuring the brachial artery pulse rate would not be an accurate measurement of diastolic pressure therefore cannot be replaced.

|JNC Classification of blood pressure in adults |

|Classification |BP (mm Hg) |

|Normal |systolic: less than 120 |

| |diastolic: less than 80 |

|Pre-hypertension |120-139/80-89 |

|Stage 1 hypertension |140-159 (systolic)...