Responses of continuous arterial volume and arterial blood pressure to Valsalva maneuver

Valsalva maneuver has found to be associated with manifold cardiovascular abnormalities. In the study, ten normal subjects were recruited to perform a 10-second Valsalva experiment. Every subject´s arterial blood pressure and arterial volume were noninvasively registered using a self-designed tonometer. It was found that in the strain phase, the heart rate and notch reflection were significantly increased from 79±14 (control) to 92±18 beats/min and from 4.9±2.4 to 12.7±6.2 mm Hg, respectively. Moreover, an elongated arterial pressure-volume relationship loop occurred in Valsalva phases II and m as compared with control. We concluded that the notch reflection, mean arterial pressure (MAP), and area of arterial pressure-volume loop may be used to differentiate Valsalva responses