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Mean arterial pressure (MAP) is an important physiologic variable that can be used to calculate overall blood flow and is a good indicator of perfusion pressure. It is an important therapeutic target in several disease states, including sepsis and head trauma. Unfortunately, there is sometimes confusion among different methods used to measure MAP. This paper makes the case that the most accurate MAP values are obtained from intra-arterial measurements, as opposed to oscillometric measurements and approximations based on the popular two-thirds rule.

By: Bruce Friedman, D.Eng

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