AN AUTOMATED EVOKED POTENTIAL MONITORING SYSTEM

WE WILL DEVELOP AN AUTOMATED LOW-TO-MODERATE COST "INTELLIGENT" EVOKED POTENTIAL MONITORING SYSTEM FOR USE IN OPERATING ROOMS AND INTENSIVE CARE UNITS. EVOKED POTENTIAL MONITORING IS DESIRABLE IN OPERATING ROOMS AND INTENSIVE CARE UNITS FOR THE PURPOSE OF RAPID DETECTION OF DELETERIOUS NEUROLOGICAL CHANGES THAT, IF UNRECOGNIZED AND UNCORRECTED, COULD LEAD TO SIGNIFICANT NEUROLOGICAL DEFICITS. AT PRESENT, EVOKED POTENTIAL MONITORING IS AN EXTREMELY LABOR INTENSIVE PROCEDURE, REQUIRING THE CONTINUAL PRESENCE OF A TECHNICIAN AND OFTEN A PHYSICIAN DEDICATED SOLELY TO REAL-TIME EVOKED POTENTIAL RECORDING AND INTERPRETATION RECORDING AND INTERPRETATION. THIS REQUIREMENT ADDS SUBSTANTIALLY TO THE COST OF OR MONITORING, AND LIMITS THE PRACTICALITY OF ICU MONITORING. WE WILL DEVELOP AN EVOKED POTENTIAL MONITORING SYSTEM THAT WILL OVERCOME THESE LIMITATIONS UTILIZING INNOVATIVE COMPUTERIZED TECHNIQUES, INCLUDING PARALLEL DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING (I. E. NEURAL NETWORK) AND DEDICATED LOW COST HARDWARE.