Intelligent automated drug administration and therapy: future of healthcare

Drug Deliv Transl Res. 2021 Oct;11(5):1878-1902. doi: 10.1007/s13346-020-00876-4. Epub 2021 Jan 14.

Abstract

In the twenty-first century, the collaboration of control engineering and the healthcare sector has matured to some extent; however, the future will have promising opportunities, vast applications, and some challenges. Due to advancements in processing speed, the closed-loop administration of drugs has gained popularity for critically ill patients in intensive care units and routine life such as personalized drug delivery or implantable therapeutic devices. For developing a closed-loop drug delivery system, the control system works with a group of technologies like sensors, micromachining, wireless technologies, and pharmaceuticals. Recently, the integration of artificial intelligence techniques such as fuzzy logic, neural network, and reinforcement learning with the closed-loop drug delivery systems has brought their applications closer to fully intelligent automatic healthcare systems. This review's main objectives are to discuss the current developments, possibilities, and future visions in closed-loop drug delivery systems, for providing treatment to patients suffering from chronic diseases. It summarizes the present insight of closed-loop drug delivery/therapy for diabetes, gastrointestinal tract disease, cancer, anesthesia administration, cardiac ailments, and neurological disorders, from a perspective to show the research in the area of control theory.

Keywords: Biological systems; Cancer treatment; Cardiac ailments; Closed-loop control; Control system; Drug delivery; GI tract; Insulin therapy; Neurological disorders.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Artificial Intelligence*
  • Delivery of Health Care
  • Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1* / drug therapy
  • Fuzzy Logic
  • Humans
  • Insulin
  • Insulin Infusion Systems
  • Neural Networks, Computer

Substances

  • Insulin