A Robust Multiple-Model Adaptive Control System for Automatic Delivery of a Vasoactive Drug

Abstract

Automatic closed-loop administration of sodium nitroprusside for the regulation of blood pressure in patients experiencing acute hypertension has been the subject of intense research over the last three decades. Yet, to date, manual administration of vasoactive drugs by a human operator remains the standard of care in the clinical setting. This manuscript describes a novel control approach for this application based on Robust Multiple-Model Adaptive Control (RMMAC). The RMMAC architecture features robust controllers designed with μ synthesis and Kalman filtering for system estimation. The new system was coupled with a mathematical model of a patient's response to drug infusion and tested in computational simulations. The results indicate that the RMMAC approach has the potential to deliver robust performance even in challenging operating conditions, with mean arterial pressure remaining within the specified target range over 99% of the time.