Health IT Analytics May 10, 2021
A machine learning tool can accurately assess unconsciousness in patients under anesthesia.
Machine learning can measure unconsciousness in patients under anesthesia, allowing anesthesiologists to optimize drug doses, according to a study published in PLOS One.
Anesthetic drugs act on the brain but most anesthesiologists rely on heart rate, respiratory rate, and movement to infer whether surgery patients remain unconscious to the desired degree.
A team from MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) showed that a machine learning approach, attuned to the kind of anesthetic being used, can yield algorithms that evaluate unconsciousness in patients based on brain activity with high accuracy and reliability.
“One of the things that is foremost in the minds of anesthesiologists is ‘Do I have somebody...