Dead-time Compensation in Intravenous Anesthesia Control

This paper presents preliminary results of anesthesia control experiments in humans. The drug used is propofol and the administration is intravenous. The objective is to regulate the hypnosis depth in the patient. To achieve this, the Bispectral Index is taken as the feedback signal. In this work, results of the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics modelling of the patient are presented. Physiological models have been considered and simulation tools have been used for validation. Results with Proportional Integral controllers are presented. Then the algorithm is modified with a dead-time compensator to improve the transitory response of the Bispectral Index. The results are compared to check the benefits of the compensator. A further step in the algorithm is the inclusion of an adaptive scheme so that the compensator designed can be adapted to different patients.