Method and arrangement for measuring venous pressure

Abstract

The invention relates to a method and arrangement for measuring venous pressure. The measurement is made non-invasively by applying a variable compressive acting pressure to a measuring point, such as a person's extremity, at a compression point by a pressure generator, and at the same time the effect of the variable pressure on the circulation is measured at a second point located farther away from the heart, i e. closer to the end point of peripheral circulation than the compression point to which pressure is applied. The measured value of the acting pressure is transferred to an interpreting unit to which is also applied a pressure pulse caused by the heart and measured at said second point by a sensor to measure the effect of the variable acting pressure. In the interpreting unit venous pressure is determined on the basis of an acting pressure which is measured by a measuring element and which is the acting pressure when the interpreting unit detects a change in the pressure pulse signal measured by said sensor, the change being characteristic of venous pressure.