SOME ASPECTS OF THE CIRCULATION IN THE PREMATURE INFANT

I. BLOOD PRESSURE  The literature concerning the blood pressure values in premature infants is indefinite. Abt and Feingold,¹ in a recent review, stated that the systolic pressure in premature infants is low "depending on the length of gestation." Dioxades² claimed that the systolic pressure in premature infants is less than normal up to the time they reach puberty. Lesne and Binet³ found the hypotension in their premature infants so marked that they could not determine the pressures. P. Balard⁴ was able to read the pressure by means of the Pachon oscillometer in infants weighing from 1,330 to 1,500 Gm., and he succeeded in doing so in an infant weighing 950 Gm. However, he did not publish his results.It is difficult to make any comparisons of the blood pressure values obtained by other authors, because different methods have been used to record them. However, for comparative