NeoGanesh: a working system for the automated control of assisted ventilation in ICUs

Automating the control of therapy administered to a patient requires systems which integrate the knowledge of experienced physicians. This paper describes NeoGanesh, a knowledge-based system which controls, in closed-loop, the mechanical assistance provided to patients hospitalized in intensive care units. We report on how new advances in knowledge representation techniques have been used to model medical expertise. The clinical evaluation shows that such a system relieves the medical staff of routine tasks, improves patient care, and efficiently supports medical decisions regarding weaning. To be able to work in closed-loop and to be tested in real medical situations, NeoGanesh deals with a voluntarily limited problem. However, embedded in a powerful distributed environment, it is intended to support future extensions and refinements and to support reuse of knowledge bases. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.