Korotkov sound

Introduction

Named after Nikolai Korotkov, a Russian military surgeon (1905)

Physiology

• Korotkoff sounds are produced underneath the distal half of a blood pressure cuff when cuff pressures are between systolic blood pressure & diastolic blood pressure
• the sounds are produced when the brachial artery is collapsing & reopening with each pulse
• the artery collapses when cuff pressure exceeds diastolic pressure; it opens when cuff pressure is less than systolic pressure

More general terms

• sound