title: Testing computer-controlled infusion pumps by simulation.
abstract: The pharmacokinetic behavior of intravenous anesthetic drugs can be described by two- or three-compartment models. Rapid achievement and maintenance of steady plasma concentrations of these drugs requires a complicated delivery scheme, perhaps best controlled by a computer. The authors developed a method of simulating the performance of a computer-controlled infusion pump from the differential equations describing drug transfer between compartments. They also derived a mathematically simple and flexible approximate solution to these equations using Euler's numerical method. They incorporated this approximate solution into a computer-controlled infusion pump for intravenous drugs. They tested their pump by simulating the administration of fentanyl to a hypothetical patient whose fentanyl pharmacokinetics were described by a three-compartment model. The exact analytical solution served as the standard of comparison. The approximation technique, using a 15-s interval between model updates, had a maximum error of 0.35 ng.ml-1, and rapidly converged on the exact solution. The simulations revealed oscillations in the system. The authors suggest that such simulations be used to evaluate computer-controlled infusion pumps prior to clinical trials of these devices.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesia, Stanford University School of Medicine, California.
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Shafer
authors.forename: L C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Siegel
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Cooke
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Scott
mesh_terms: D000777:Anesthetics / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003201:Computers; D006801:Humans; D007260:Infusion Pumps; D008954:Models, Biological; D012984:Software
chemical_list: D000777:Anesthetics