Discovery of Blood Pressure Measurement

Italian physician Scipione Riva-Rocci introduced a practical mercury sphygmomanometer in 1896, using an inflatable cuff wrapped around the upper arm to measure systolic blood pressure noninvasively, a considerable improvement over earlier, more cumbersome blood pressure devices; American surgeon Harvey Cushing encountered the instrument in Italy and brought it back to the United States in 1901, helping establish it in American medical practice. Russian physician Nikolai Korotkoff added the crucial second half of the modern technique in 1905, discovering that the sounds produced by blood flow through a partially compressed artery, now called Korotkoff sounds, could be used with a stethoscope to determine diastolic as well as systolic pressure. Combined, the Riva-Rocci cuff and Korotkoff's auscultatory method gave physicians a simple, noninvasive way to obtain a full blood pressure reading, and the same basic technique remains the standard for manual blood pressure measurement in clinical practice today.