Model Reference Adaptive Scheme for Multi-drug Infusion for Blood Pressure Control

Using multiple interacting drugs to control both the mean arterial pressure (MAP) and cardiac output (CO) of patients with different sensitivity to drugs is a challenging task which this paper attempts to address. A multivariable model reference adaptive control (MRAC) algorithm is developed using a two-input, two-output patient model. The control objective is to maintain the homodynamic variables MAP and CO at the normal values by simultaneously administering two drugs; sodium nitroprusside (SNP) and dopamine (DPM). Computer simulations were carried out to investigate the performance of this controller. The results show that the proposed adaptive scheme is robust with respect to disturbances and variations in model parameters.