A Rrandomized Prospective Study Comparing the Quality of Surgical Fields Resulting From Automatically Determined Tourniquet Cuff Pressure Versus Surgeon Chosen Tourniquet Cuff Pressure

Abstract

In this study patients were randomized between surgeon chosen pressure (control) and an automatically determined tourniquet pressure(study group). Of 112 patients in the study group, 5% failed to obtain an automatic pressure. Of the remainder, the average tourniquet pressure was 198 +/− 20.2 mm Hg compared to 259.6 +/− 4.4 mmHg for the control group (p<0.0001). Of the study group 94 (88.6%) had good to excellent fields compared to the control group where 100 (77.5%) had good to excellent fields (p<0.05). The automatic measurement of limb occlusion pressure results in better operative fields at a lower pressure.