'Closed-Loop' System Improves Adjustment of Anesthesia Levels

A new 'closed-loop' system can accurately adjust levels of anesthetics and analgesic drugs in surgical patients, according to a study published in the March issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia.

The system constantly monitors the bispectral index, a measure of brain activity that lets physicians precisely maintain a target level of anesthesia. In the study, 196 patients undergoing surgery were randomly assigned to receive propofol/remifentanil anesthesia using the closed-loop system or manual drug adjustment.

The quality and stability of anesthesia was found to be higher in patients assigned to the closed-loop system, based on a global score. "Overshooting" and "undershooting" — anesthesia either too deep or not deep enough — were also less frequent in the closed-loop group.

Read the Anesthesia & Analgesia report on the closed-loop system.

Read more on anesthesia:

-10 Recent Anesthesia Findings Making Headlines

-FDA Approves Mindray Medical Anesthesia System

-Children's Hospital Boston and Proteus to Introduce New Algae-Derived Anesthetic

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