Recently, some studies revealed that many of American teenagers are at risk of ischemic stroke. This is one type of stroke wherein an area of the brain tissue becomes dead due to inadequate supply of oxygen and blood in the brain. This happens when the artery that is responsible for transporting blood and oxygen to the brain is blocked by plaques or fatty deposits, usually cholesterol. The risk for ischemic stroke, just like any other serious and death-causing diseases, can be prevented if the person will only be cautious with his or her lifestyle. Additionally, monitoring the blood pressure level regularly helps a lot to prevent the occurrence hypertension, which is a prevalent symptom of almost all types of stroke.
There are many medical instruments that can be used to determine the status of a person's blood pressure. One of them is the sphygmomanometer. This is among the most basic medical instruments being used for measuring BP level. Also known as pressure meter, this equipment is often available in two types - the manometric and the digital. The digital sphygmomanometer is among the latest technology being used in determining the blood pressure level. It consists of a conventional arm cuff and a compact high sensitivity pneumatic pressure sensor that rapidly detects and converts the patient's BP and then encodes the result to digital signals. The blood pressure reading that the BP apparatus obtains from the patient is displayed on a biometric monitor or the small screen provided along with the cuff. The digital sphygmomanometer is a portable device and very easy to operate. Many of today's medical equipment sales stores are now offering this kind of BP apparatus online.
The aneroid type of sphygmomanometer on the other hand is the old-fashioned blood pressure measuring device and until now, it is still widely available in the market. This type of BP instrument features two important BP devices and these are inflatable cuff intended to resist blood flow and a mercury or mechanical manometer used to gauge the pressure. But aside from these two important components of aneroid sphygmomanometer, there are also other equipments needed in order to make blood pressure device function. These include the inflation bulb and valve that are connected to the inflation cuff via a rubber tube and the stethoscope, which is very essential for manual sphygmomanometer.
The sphygmomanometer that comes with a mercury manometer is not as handy as the digital ones. But more medical practitioners still choose to use the pressure measuring device designed with mercury manometer over the digital ones because it cannot be recalibrated thus, the BP readings are consistently accurate.
