Adaptive Multivarable Drug Delivery: Control of Artenal Pressure and Cardiac Output in Anesthetized Dogs

An adaptive algorithm (CAMAC, control advance moving average controller) to control multiinput/multioutput physiological systems has been implemented and tested. The algorithm is a self-tuning controller that determines the input on the basis of the expected difference between the output and desired output at a time interval equal to or greater than the system dead time. The algorithm was used to simultaneously control mean arterial pressure and cardiac output in anesthetized dogs by the simultaneous computer-controlled infusion of sodium nitroprusside and dobutamine. The results demonstrate the feasibility of using CAMAC for multivariable drug delivery, but they indicate the need for further work before clinical applications are attempted.