Abstract
The development of automated individualized drug dosage regimens, namely in general anaesthesia environment, has been a subject of interest in the last decades. The use of continuous intravenous drug administration aims at, accurately, maintaining the system at a desired target effect concentration level. Different methods have been proposed for the design of individualized dosage regimens. In this study individual drug dose design is achieved through the characterization of transient initial response induced by a bolus administration of drug. This approach is based on the statistical analysis of the data using Walsh-Fourier spectral analysis which provides information about patient dynamics, allowing the on-line drug dose design using multiple linear least squares and quantile regression technics. The proposed methodology is illustrated in the case where the effect measured on the patient corresponds to the neuromuscular blockade (NMB) level and the drug to the muscle relaxant atracurium.

Abstract
The BRS can be quantified as the slope between SBP and RR values identified in baroreflex events, estimated by ordinary least squares (OLS) minimization. Quantile regression (QR) is a more robust procedure than OLS and allows a more complete characterization of the data, by estimating conditional functions for different quantiles of interest. In this work, OLS and QR for BRS estimation are compared regarding slope estimates and dispersion. The EuroBaVar results indicate that OLS slope and QR slopes at different quantiles do not exhibit significant differences. Also, OLS and QR slopes require similar number of beats to achieve a given BRS precision in stationary recordings. Finally, BRS estimated with OLS exhibit relative dispersion lower than 10% and 5% when computed from stationary recordings of approximately 3 and 9 minutes length, respectively.

Abstract

Abstract