When placing a blood pressure cuff on a patient's arm, ensure that the bladder of the cuff is centered over which artery?

• A. The Brachial
• B. The Carotid
• C. The Radial
• D. The Subclavian

Answer: (A)

Center the cuff’s bladder over the brachial artery. The brachial artery is the main vessel in the upper arm used for standard blood pressure measurement, so placing the cuff directly over this artery ensures the arm is properly occluded during inflation and that Korotkoff sounds can be heard with the stethoscope over the artery in the antecubital area. Placing the cuff over other arteries (carotid, radial, subclavian) would misalign the measurement and likely give inaccurate readings, since those arteries aren’t the targeted site for this method.