What it means
When a blood pressure cuff is inflated, it stops blood flow in the artery. As it slowly deflates, blood starts to spurt through, making sounds in five phases. The first clear tapping sound marks the systolic pressure, and the point where the sounds disappear marks the diastolic pressure in adults. They are named after Nikolai Korotkoff, the Russian surgeon who described them in 1905.
For the nurse
Place the stethoscope bell or diaphragm lightly over the brachial artery and let the cuff down at about 2 to 3 mm Hg per second. Note the first sound and the last sound. A silent gap between sounds in some clients (auscultatory gap) can cause a falsely low reading if the cuff is not pumped high enough first.
At a glance
| Also written | Korotkoff sound, Korotkoff's sounds |
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Related terms
mm Hg
Millimeters of mercury: the unit used to measure blood pressure and the pressure of gases in the blood.
blood pressure
The force of blood pushing against the walls of the arteries, written as systolic over diastolic in mm Hg.
auscultation
Listening to the sounds inside the body, usually with a stethoscope.