title: Why do we need to perform ambulatory blood pressure monitoring?. Conversation with the patient.
abstract: Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) has become one of the major clinical tools used to investigate the hypertensive patient. The technique is still cumbersome and embarassing for the patient, both during daily activities and during nightly rest. Nonetheless, the information to be obtained can be very useful for diagnosis and eventually for treatment of the patient. Therefore, it is important to convince the patient to give his permission for the recording to be performed. The recording should be performed under the best possible conditions. In the following, some of the arguments used in the hypertensive clinics will be outlined.
authors.affiliation: University Hospital, Department of Cardiovascular Disease, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Clement
authors.lastname: De Buyzere M
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Duprez