A prototype robot that can induce a general anaesthetic for operations has been developed in France using American equipment and tested on some 200 patients
PARIS: A prototype robot that can induce a general anaesthetic for operations has been developed in France using American equipment and tested on some 200 patients, the project team leader has announced.
“The automatic pilot system relieves the anaesthetist of one of his tasks so that he can devote himself to the extremely important job of monitoring the patient’s state,” said Professor Marc Fischler, head of anaesthetics of the Foch Hospital in Suresnes, who developed the system with two other specialists.
The French system has been tested on more than 200 patients in 10 French hospitals, as well as one in Belgium and one in Germany. “In the short term it’s still a research tool, but I can imagine that in the longer term it will become an instrument in everyday use,” he commented. “
“Furthermore, we can handle patients regardless of how serious their condition and even for long operations (up to 14 hours),” said Fischler. The system includes a bispectral monitor which can analyse the depth of the anaesthetic by recording brain activity.
An electrode on the patient’s brow enables the monitor to situate the depth of anaesthesia somewhere between zero and 100, depending on the bispectral index. Data is fed into a computer which controls the supply of morphine and hypnotising drugs, with the entire process constantly monitored by anaesthetists.
The bispectral index can calculate the patient’s brain state and signal any major malaise occurring. A bispectral index is a neurophysiological monitoring device which continually analyses a patient’s electroencephalograms during general anaesthesia to assess the
level of consciousness.
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