Preliminary Feasibility Study of Anesthetic Agent Identification From Ion Mobility

Spectra Using a Neural Network

Robert Rosenblatt', Emilio Sacristan', Albert Shahnarian', and Robert A. Peural
'Biomedical Engineering Department, Worcester Polytechnic Institute,
100 InstiUte Road, Worcester, MA 01609, U.S.A.
'Department of Anesthesiology, University of Massachusetts Medical School
55 Lake Ave. N, Worcester, MA 01605, U.S.A.
Abstract - Anesthetic agent monitoring and identification
have become accepted standard practice, to improve safety
in the operating room. A simple and cost effective device
called an aspiration condenser has been used for ion mobility
analysis in a variety of gas monitoring applications. This
device has the ootential to become a comDetitive alternative
to existing anesihesia monitoring technolo&es. This paper is
a preliminary feasibility study of anesthetic agent
identification, using an Artificial Neural Network (ANN),
from ion mobility spectra obtained using an aspiration
condenser. Spectra of the five commonly used volatile
anesthetic agents (Halothane, Isoflurane, Enflurane,
Sevoflurane, and Desflurane), in varying concentrations,
were used to train and test an ANN. Preliminary results
show an overall agent identification accuracy was 75%
(concentration -e 1.O0) and 98.21% (concentration >
1.0Y0). With further refmement of the measurement and
analysis approach, a low-cost clinical anesthesia gas monitor
can be developed.

Elate voltage over a range of -10 to 1OV. This allows for

0th the negative and ositive ions to be c tured and
measured on the co&ction electrode. %us curve
represents a transformed function of the ion mobility
distribution of the gas sample[4]

I. INTRODUCTION
Surgical Anesthesia

Deflection Platevoltage (V)

The elimination of pain, although important, is not the

primary task of the anesthesiolo 'st during a surgical
procedure. The foremost task 8 t h e anesthetist is to
maintain the physiological well-being .of the patient
throughout the surgical procedure. Th~sis accomphshed
by increasing the anesthettst's awareness of the patient's
condition through the use of physiological and respiratory
monitors. An important aspect of resplratory monitoring
is the continuous analysis of the amount and type of
anesthetic being administered to the abent. Minimal
monitoring standards have been &own to reduce
anesthesia related mortali [11. To prevent accidental
overdose, and better contro the indumon of anesthesia, it
has become accepted standard practice to. i d e n q and
monitor the concentration of the anesthettc d m g the
surgical procedure. Five volatile inhalation anesthetic
agents are currently used clinically: Halothane, Isoflurane,
Enflurane, Desflurane, and Sevoflurane. They are
halogenated com ounds of similar molecular structure.
During a surgicafprocedure only one agent is used at a
time. There is a significant need for an anesthesia gas
monitoring device that is small, simple, and inexpensive,
making widespread use of anesthesia monitoring possible.

Ion Mobility Analysis Methods

It has been shown that ion mobility methods can be
used to anal ze gas mixtures of the commonly used
volatile anesxetic agents [2]. Sacristan has developed a
new ion mobility measurement method, using a computer
controlled variable deflection voltage a iration
condenser[3]. This measurement method is we? suited
for the analysis of surgical concentrations of volatile
anesthetics[4].
The p y o s e of this research is to perform a preliminary
analysis o an Artificial Neural Network's (ANN) ability
to resolve anesthettc agent idenofication from spectra
obtained using a prototype ion mobili analysis system.
Figure 1 shows a t ical spectra or the anesthetic
Desflurane. This was gtained by sweeping the deflection

Figure 1 - Mobility Spectra of Desjlurane (3%): This represents

a 64-point spectra of Desflurane (3%) in a 25% 0, - 75% N,O
carrier gas. The network was trained with 22 points of these
spectra within the range of -6 to 6V.
Artij7cial Neural Network

A neural network is a CO uter model which tries to

mimic the functionality of t h x n m a n brain in terms of its
ability to learn, remember, and solve problems. The basic
structure of a neural network is called the processing
element (PE), or node. This element mimics neurons
found in the brain which consists of several inputs
(dendrites) and a single output (axons) all connect@ to a
processing element (cell body). Like a neuron, d the
strengh of the input signals s asses an internal
thres old, a signal is produced alongUfRe output path.
A neural network consists of several of these
interconnected processing elements organized in layers.
A typical backpropagation neural network consists of an
input layer, at least one hidden layer, and an output layer.
Operating a neural network consists of two
learning and recall. Learning occurs when $z:es:
resented at the in uts (and at the outputs superyised
f&uning is deslredy and the internal connection weights
are modified in response to this stimuli to obtain the
desired results. Learning is an iterative process in which
several examples of input stimuli are presented to the
network until the error between the desired response and
the actual output is minimal. A bac ropagation neural
network feeds the error function back ough the network
to aid in learning.
11. METHODS
A prototype, aspiration condenser based, measurement
s stem was used to gather preliminary data.
oncentrations of 0.2%, O S % , 1.0%, 3.0% and 5.0% were
used for each of the five anesthetics (additional points of

!i%

F'

7% were gathered for Enflurane & Desflurane and 9%,

12%, and 18% were gathered for DesflFane). These
mixtures were generated m a constant camer gas of 25%
0,. 75% N20. Figure 1 shows a typical spectra (64
points) for Desflurane (3%) in a 25% 0, - 75% N,O
carrier gas.
A backpropagation neural network (Figure 2) using a
sigmoid transfer function and the deltajearning rule was
used to identi@ anesthebc agent. The slze of the network
was reduced by choosing. 22 points in the -6 to 6V range
which best illustrated vanabons of the spectra for each of
the five anesthetic agents. The network consisted of four
layers: an input layer (22 PE), two hidden layers (15 PE
each), and an output layer (6 PE). Training of the network
proceeded in the same fashion described in the previous
section. During recall, the full trained network was
presented with unknown data (di;tyferent from the training
data), and its ability to predict (identify agent) was tested.
A four-fold cross-validation scheme was used to train
and test the performance of the neural network. The data
(112 samples) was randomly divided into four equal sets.
Three of these sets were combined and used to train the
network, the fourth was used to test its performance. This
was re eated four times (on four independent, identical
networks) for each of the four sets.
In order to train the network, an identification
coefficient was assigned to each of the five agents. These
five numbers, presented at the network outputs during
training, were used to resolve agent identification. The
value of these coefficients (during training) yere either 0
or 1, a 0 indicates the absence of that part~cularagent,
while a 1 indicates its presence. During training, the
network was presented with spectra (inputs) associated
with the identification coefficients (outputs).
Durini
recall, a positive identification was made if the networ
resolved the coefficients, of a. a$culq agent, with (at
least) 40% confidence. False i entlficabon followed the
same criteria, but idenflied the agent improperly.

1
Error Flow

Data

Figure 2 - Backpropagation Network: A backpropagation neural

Table 1: Results: Prediction accuracy of backpropagation

Artificial Neural Network. This table shows agent identification
accuracy for all five anesthetic agents (varying concentrations)
in a 25% O2 - 75% N,O carrier gas mixture.
Agent: Range: Samples: Positive False I D Accuracv

ID:
Hal

~~

Is0

<= 1.0% I

12

10

2
0

83.33

I 100.00

<=1.0%
> I .O%

Enf

<= 1.0%
>1.0%

Sevo

<= 1.0%
>1.O%
<= 1.0%
>1.O%

Des

Overall <= 1.0%

ID

>1.0%

IV. DISCUSSION
This preliminary analysis has shown that ANNS have
the ability to identify anesthetic agent from ion mobility
spectra obtained with an aspiration condenser. The
networks lower prediction rate at low anesthetic agent
concentration is not a significant problem for surgical
anesthesia. Induction of anesthesia (at the beginning of
the surgical procedure) is performed at relatively high
concentrations (2-4%), this is when accurate agent
identification is needed. During the procedure the mean
alveoli concentration (MAC), for most agents, is generally
in the range of 1.2%. A possible e lanation of the
networks improved performance, at h i 3 concentrations,
is that as the concentration of anesthebc increases, each
a ents attributes are more fully expressed on the
d e s e attributes makes it easier for the network to z&%y
the agents
Improvements are being made in the measurement
system to improve the repeatability of the measurements,
and improve resolution at lower concentrations. Future
work will include reducing the size of the network, and
investi ating preprocessing techni ues to improve
networ! performance. Future tests wi?l include variations
in the carrier gas mixture, and the possible incorporation
of a compensation mechanism to improve erformance.
Also, an increased amount of data will be gatEered to train
and test the network.

network consists of a input layer, at least one hidden layer, and

an output layer. During network training the error at the output
layer is backpropagated through the network until the output
layer is reached. This is done continuously and the connection [I]
weights are updated to minimize error. The network followed a
22 (input) - 15 (hidden 1) - 15 (hidden 2) - 6 (output) PE [2]
scheme.

REFERENCES

Youngson, R. Why Anaesthesia Can Still Kill, New Scientist

Feb 9, 1991, P.53-56
Eiceman GA, Shoff DB, Harden CS, Snyder AP, Martinez
PM, Fleischer ME, Watkins ML. Ion Mobility Spectrometry
of Halothane, Enflurane, and Isoflurane Anesthetics in Air and
Respired Gases, Anal. Chem. 61: 1093-1099, 1989
[3] Sacristan Emilio, Ion Mobility Method and Device for Gas
Analysis, U.S. patent application 08/238,614, 1994.
[4] Sacristan, Emilio I Ion mobility Method for Inhalation Anesthesia
Monitoring, Ph.D. Dissertation, Worcester Polytechnic Institute,
Worcester, MA, 1993, U.M.I. Dissertation Information Service,
Ann Arbor, MI, Order No. 943 1665.

111. RESULTS
Preliminary results showing the ANNS ability to
resolve agent identification, based on mobility spectra, are
shown in Table 1. These results are broken down by agent
e and concentration ray-e. . The. preliminary results
2 R w that the agent 1 enkfication accuracy was
significant1 lower III the low concentration range (<= ACKNOWLEDGMENT: This work was supported in part by
1.0%). Tze rate of identification improved at hi her Enviva Corp., Worcester, MA.
concentrations. Overall rediction accuracy for each o the
five agents is shown in Fable 1.

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