Anaesthesia - Can The Patient Feel The Knife? - Isis Project No 1501
A new method for monitoring changes in the physiological state of a patient during anaesthesia.
Marketing Opportunity
Anaesthetic agents are potentially dangerous drugs, and major patient complications can occur. If the patient is overdosed, death or major body organ damage can occur. Conversely, if the patient is under-dosed, patient awareness can occur. There is a narrow drug concentration “window” for both drug safety and anaesthetic efficacy, and the development of ways in which to monitor drug delivery concentration has been a major driver in anaesthetic agent safety research.
The Oxford Invention
The Oxford invention has met this anaesthesia challenge by using modified statistical techniques to classify the physiological state of a human or animal subject. The classification monitors changes in the physiological state that occur over time either spontaneously or from external stimuli. Typical data are obtained from performing an encephalogram; this classifies the cognitive state of the subject. Subsequent tests on data obtained from anaesthetic trials have demonstrated the efficacy of the method for classifying brain activity, and hence the depth of anaesthesia.
The method may be used with other forms of physiological data: electromyography to indicate muscle activity; analysis of images from magnetic resonance, computed tomography, X-ray and ultrasound; electrocardiography for blood pressure and blood oxygenation.
Other applications include the monitoring of:
- Consciousness
- Sleep
- Neuropathology
- Cerebral intoxication
- Cognitive state
- Muscle tremor
Patent Status
This work is the subject of a patent application, and the Isis Project Manager would like to discuss this licensing opportunity with companies interested in developing the method into a commercial reality.
Request Further Information: Project Number 1501 - Anaesthesia: Can The Patient Feel The Knife?