While I admire computer optimized systems, this "anesthesia-by-wire" system was validated on a very small group of healthy patients. I am reminded of the current Toyota microchip throttle controllers and how they seem to have a propensity to cause problems.
One of the tenants of optimization theory is that "highly optimized systems are prone to catastrophic failure" which can only by countered by redundancy and built in safety breakers. Good luck.
ScienceDaily (Feb. 18, 2010) — A team of researchers from the Canary Islands has developed a technique for automatically controlling anaesthesia during surgical operations. The new system detects the hypnotic state of the patient at all times and supplies the most appropriate dose of anaesthetic.
The system uses sensors and a monitor to record the patient's encephalogram (EEG) and bispectral index (BIS), a parameter without units that measures hypnotic state and relates this to the patient's level of consciousness.
The data are processed by a computer with specific control software, which can control the pump that injects the anaesthetic in order to regulate the amount given. The IT application is based on adaptive PID (Proportional Integral Derivative) algorithms, a control-loop feedback mechanism that automatically controls the right dose according to the measured and desired values.
System Unveiled for Regulating Anaesthesia Via Computer
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