Figure 32-9 Interaction between damping coefficient and natural frequency. Depending on these two system parameters, catheter tubing-transducer systems fall into one of five different dynamic response ranges. Systems with an optimal dynamic response will faithfully record the most demanding pressure waveforms, whereas those with an adequate dynamic response will accurately record most pressure waveforms seen in clinical practice. Overdamped and underdamped systems introduce artifacts characteristic of these technical limitations. Systems with a natural frequency of less than 7 Hz are considered unacceptable. The rectangular crosshatched box indicates the ranges of damping coefficients and natural frequencies commonly encountered in clinical pressure measurement systems. The point within the box shows the mean values of 30 such systems recorded by Schwid.^[122] (Redrawn from Mark JB: Atlas of Cardiovascular Monitoring. New York, Churchill Livingstone, 1998, Figs. 9-6, 9-8, and 9-11.)