Clinical Utility of the Simultaneous Recording of Heart and Korotkoff Sounds

Heart and arterial sounds and murmurs for a sequence of as many as 100 successive beats are recorded on a single print. The apparatus consists of a cathode ray oscilloscope, a Q-wave trigger to release the beam, a vertical axis which is connected to the blood pressure cuff, and an intensity modulation circuit which determines the intensity of the beam at each instant. This arrangement eliminates the baseline and thereby permits the display of low intensity acoustic signals. Data on normal subjects, and patients with various heart diseases are illustrated. Advantages and limitations of the method are discussed.