It is an exaggeration of the normal respiratory variation in systolic blood pressure (the diastolic changes little) characterized by a decrease with inspiration and an increase with exhalation. Although these swings are physiologic, in some disease states they may become large enough to be detectable at the bedside, even on simple palpation of a peripheral artery. In this case, the pulse will grow stronger on expiration and weaker on inspiration. It may even disappear.
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