Real-Time Blood Propofol Monitoring

异丙酚是一种静脉注射药物，用于全身麻醉（无意识或药物诱导睡眠）。它也可以通过持续输注来保持患者睡眠，与使用麻醉气体相比，对患者有实质性的好处。这些好处包括精心控制，顺利的麻醉诱导和快速，高质量的恢复，恶心发生率极低。异丙酚对记忆的影响较小，尤其是对易感患者。接受异丙酚麻醉的癌症患者比接受气体麻醉的患者更有可能存活5年。新出现的实验室证据有助于解释这一点。这对麻醉师也有好处。有些病人不能用气体麻醉，而设备或环境问题阻止了其他病人使用气体麻醉。麻醉师不用担心病人在困难的气管插管过程中醒来（在此期间无法输送气体）。异丙酚输注也广泛用于镇静病人（使他们平静和困倦，但仍有反应），如重症监护病房的病人。在气体麻醉过程中，可以在病人的呼吸中测量气体，这表明气体被输送到病人体内，同时也可以测量出病人体内有多少气体。在静脉麻醉期间，如果血液中异丙酚的含量能被监测和连续显示，那将是理想的。这种“实时”监视器目前还不存在。血液中异丙酚的浓度可以通过将样本送到实验室来测量，但延迟意味着这不能满足麻醉师对即时和连续信息的需求。实时血液异丙酚监测仪将通过以下方式提高患者的安全性：*提供药物正在输送给患者的证据（因此可以快速指示意外断开输液管）。*指示患者麻醉或镇静的深度*改进麻醉输注泵内的剂量计算*通过调整药物剂量来实现个性化麻醉该应用程序正在支持在实验室中工作的功能原型实时血液异丙酚测量系统的开发。所需的里程碑包括发明一种传感器，可以检测临床上相关浓度的异丙酚，将其集成到血液中使用的恢复系统中，并将其与数据显示连接起来。需要进一步的工作来生产临床上有用的监测器。

Propofol is an intravenous drug used to induce general anaesthesia (unconsciousness or drug induced sleep). It can also be administered by continuous infusion to keep the patient asleep and has substantial benefits for patients compared with the use of anaesthetic gases. These benefits include a carefully controlled, smooth induction of anaesthesia and a rapid, high quality recovery with a very low incidence of nausea. Propofol has less impact on memory, especially in susceptible patients. Patients who have cancer and are anaesthetised with propofol are more likely to be alive 5 years later than those given gaseous anaesthesia. Emerging laboratory evidence is helping to explain this.There are benefits to the anaesthetist too. Some patients cannot be anaesthetised with a gas whilst equipment or environmental concerns prevent its use in others. The anaesthetist has no worries about the patient awakening during a difficult instrumentation of the airway (during which a gas cannot be delivered).Propofol infusions are also used extensively to sedate patients (make them calm and sleepy but still responsive) such as those in intensive care units.During gaseous anaesthesia the gas can be measured in the patient's breath, this shows that it is being delivered to the patient as well offering a measurement of how much is in their system. During intravenous anaesthesia it would be ideal if the amount of propofol in the blood could be monitored and displayed continuously. Such a 'real-time' monitor does not currently exist. Blood propofol concentrations can be measured by sending samples to a laboratory but the delay means that this does not meet the anaesthetist's need for immediate and continuous information.A real-time blood propofol monitor would increase patient safety by:* Providing evidence that the drug is being delivered to the patient (and thus a rapid indication of an accidentally disconnected infusion line).* Indicating how deeply the patient is anaesthetized or sedated* Refining the dosing calculations built into anaesthetic infusion pumps* Moving toward personalised anaesthesia by adjusting drug doses to individual patientsThis application is being made to support the development of a functioning prototype real-time blood propofol measuring system that works in a laboratory. Required milestones include the invention of a sensor that detects propofol at clinically relevant concentrations, integrating it into a recovery system for use in blood, and linking it to a data display. Further work will be required to produce a clinically useful monitor.