What does RR mean?

In connection with blood pressure, one often stumbles upon the abbreviation RR. This stands for Riva Rocci and is colloquially used in medicine for blood pressure.

Scipione Riva-Rocci - the inventor of blood pressure measurement

Scipione Riva-Rocci was an Italian physician who invented the non-invasive measurement of blood pressure using a cuff and barometer in 1896. He wrapped a bicycle tube around his patients' upper arms, which he could inflate using a balloon. Connected to this was a mercury barometer that measured the pressure. Signore Riva-Rocci palpated the pulse at his patients' wrists during the procedure and discovered that the point at which the pulse was no longer palpable corresponded to the systolic blood pressure. This revolutionized blood pressure measurement, which had only been possible through invasive means (by inserting a probe into one of the large body arteries) until the 19th century.

The most common method of measuring blood pressure today still closely resembles that of the Italian physician. Even today, a cuff filled with air temporarily interrupts blood flow in a vessel, and blood pressure is determined using a manometer. While palpating the radial pulse is less commonly used for this purpose, it still has its place, especially in emergency care. More common is auscultation of the Korotkoff sounds using a stethoscope or measuring the oscillations in the blood vessel, as most electronic blood pressure monitors do.

mmHg (millimeters of mercury) is used as the unit for blood pressure.

Sources

By Sabine Croci. This article is medically reviewed. Last updated (04/2024).
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What does RR mean?

Sources

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