An apparatus for intermittent vascular occlusion based on a personalized tourniquet pressure, comprising: a dual-purpose tourniquet cuff having an inflatable bladder adapted to encircle a portion of a patient; a sensor module having a pulsation sensor communicating pneumatically with the inflatable bladder of the dual-purpose cuff for sensing and characterizing pressure pulsations indicative of a distal occlusion pressure, thereby to identify a minimum pressure at which penetration of blood past the cuff is stopped; a PTP estimator responsive to the pulsation sensor for producing an estimate of a PTP, wherein the estimate of the PTP is a function of the DOP and is at least equal to the DOP; an effector module communicating pneumatically with the inflatable bladder of the dual-purpose cuff for producing a vascular occlusion cycle by maintaining pressure in the bladder at the PTP during a first time period of the vascular occlusion cycle and for maintaining pressure in the bladder at a non-occlusive level of pressure during a second time period of the vascular occlusion cycle; and a controller configured to selectively operate the inflatable bladder in conjunction with the sensor module and the effector module to produce a plurality of vascular occlusion cycles, thereby intermittently alternating the pressure in the bladder between the PTP and the non-occlusive level of pressure, wherein: a cycle pressure waveform is stored in a memory and accessed by the controller; the cycle pressure waveform defines a desired level of pressure at each time during a cycle time period; and the controller uses the stored cycle pressure waveform to maintain the pressure in the bladder near the level corresponding to the desired level of pressure during the cycle time period. a dual-purpose tourniquet cuff having an inflatable bladder adapted to encircle a portion of a patient; a sensor module having a pulsation sensor communicating pneumatically with the inflatable bladder of the dual-purpose cuff for sensing and characterizing pressure pulsations indicative of a distal occlusion pressure, thereby to identify a minimum pressure at which penetration of blood past the cuff is stopped; a PTP estimator responsive to the pulsation sensor for producing an estimate of a PTP, wherein the estimate of the PTP is a function of the DOP and is at least equal to the DOP; an effector module communicating pneumatically with the inflatable bladder of the dual-purpose cuff for producing a vascular occlusion cycle by maintaining pressure in the bladder at the PTP during a first time period of the vascular occlusion cycle and for maintaining pressure in the bladder at a non-occlusive level of pressure during a second time period of the vascular occlusion cycle; and a controller configured to selectively operate the inflatable bladder in conjunction with the sensor module and the effector module to produce a plurality of vascular occlusion cycles, thereby intermittently alternating the pressure in the bladder between the PTP and the non-occlusive level of pressure, wherein: a cycle pressure waveform is stored in a memory and accessed by the controller; the cycle pressure waveform defines a desired level of pressure at each time during a cycle time period; and the controller uses the stored cycle pressure waveform to maintain the pressure in the bladder near the level corresponding to the desired level of pressure during the cycle time period. a cycle pressure waveform is stored in a memory and accessed by the controller; the cycle pressure waveform defines a desired level of pressure at each time during a cycle time period; and the controller uses the stored cycle pressure waveform to maintain the pressure in the bladder near the level corresponding to the desired level of pressure during the cycle time period.