Goal I: Code
The first goal of the Open TCI Initiative is to bring together programmers and engineers from around the world to create an open source code base for target controlled infusion (TCI) technology to ensure that all Open TCI pumps perform identically for the benefit of clinical anesthesiologists and their patients. Here we speak of the code for the pharmacokinetic mathematics (not the code for the user interface, the graphical display, etc., which is proprietary software). The pharmacokinetic mathematics code is all based on the published articles/textbooks describing the equations for the one, two and three-compartment mammillary model with an effect compartment (characterized by the rate constant ke0).
We also host the code for STANPUMP from the Department of Anesthesia at Stanford, STELPUMP from the Department of Anaesthesia at the University of Stellenbosch, and IVA-SIM from the Department of Anesthesia at the University of Bonn. These projects were previously hosted by Professor Steven Shafer’s PK/PD Software Server (Code Repository) at http://pkpd.icon.palo-alto.med.va.gov.
Goal II: Data
The second goal of the Open TCI Initiative is to bring together investigators from around the world to create a common database of raw pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data for the purposes of both understanding the strengths and weaknesses of existing models, and potentially for creating unifying models that can become the basis for the next generation of TCI devices.
Goal III: Models
The third goal of the Open TCI Initiative is to provide a forum for investigators from around the world to discuss various issues related to the various published pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic models used or potentially used in TCI pumps for the purposes of developing a consensus opinion and to ultimately provide recommendations, which will be freely available to all companies interested in developing TCI (thereby avoiding the potential confusion caused by different companies implementing the same models differently).