Automated drug delivery in muscle relaxant anaesthesia using self-organizing fuzzy logic control

The general trend in muscle relaxant anaesthesia is for shorter acting agents which allow the patient to recover from paralysis quickly with minimal use of reversal agent. This necessitates continuous infusion schemes which must accommodate a wide range of patient characteristics. This paper investigates the application of self-organizing fuzzy logic control (SOFLC) to automated infusion of atracurium. This scheme offers a simple means to develop a nonlinear controller which quickly establishes the level of muscle relaxant required by each individual patient in a self-learning fashion. Preliminary results show this approach is suitable for clinical application