Decoupling Control of Intracranial Temperature and Pressure for Brain Hypothermia Treatment

As brain hypothermia treatment (BHT) consists of simultaneous management of various vital physiological functions, a decoupling control of intracranial temperature (ICT) and pressure (ICP) is proposed to give hints on this systemic medicine. For theoretical simulation, a transfer function matrix is identified to linearly approximate the characteristic interrelationships between medical treatments (ambient cooling and diuretic administration) and the vital signs (ICT and ICP) of an integrated model, which is developed to simulate the thermodynamics, hemodynamics and the pharmacokinetics of a patient under BHT. It is shown that ICT and ICP of the model can be simultaneously regulated by a single PID controller of ambient cooling and another of diuretic administration, whereas the decoupler effectively establishes hypothermic decompression, reduces the diuretic administration and improves ICP management.