[Systematics and concept of a future integrated anesthesia device].

On the grounds of the more than one hundred years lasting development of the anaesthesia machine the systematics of the components of a future integrated anaesthesia machine is described. The new generation of today's anaesthesia machine incorporates four main functions: dosing, ventilation, monitoring and data management. Given the achievements of the last 15 years in the fields of data and signal analysis, of the clinical pharmacology of intravenous anaesthetics, of measurement and evaluation of anaesthetic drug action, the four main functions are only partially realized in today's anaesthesia machines. Especially lacking are the integration of smart dosing devices for intravenous anaesthetics, the so-called "therapeutic monitoring" which monitors the efficacy of anaesthetic drug action, and a data management system which does not only manage data but interprets them in terms of "smart alarms" and maybe in the future also by expert systems. The concept of a future integrated anaesthesia machine is investigated via a study model and on the basis of a real model composed of already existing devices.