A low-pressure tourniquet system for the lower limb.

An unusually wide pneumatic tourniquet which has recently been introduced into clinical practice was shown to occlude the lower limbs' blood flow at lower inflation pressures than the conventional narrower instrument. Based on a prospective study of volunteers as well as on a recording of peroperative fluctuations of blood pressure it was suggested that lower limbs' blood flow could be reliably occluded with this wide tourniquet inflated to no more than 125 mm Hg above the systolic pressure measured on admission. Theoretically a change to the lower pressures permitted by this instrument will lead to a reduction in complications caused by the tourniquet.