In an effort to establish an initial step towards the ultimate goal of developing an analytic tool to optimize the vasopressor-inotrope therapy through individualized dose-response relationships, we propose a phenomenological model intended to reproduce the hemodynamic response to vasopressor-inotropes. The proposed model consists of a cardiovascular model relating blood pressure to cardinal cardiovascular parameters (stroke volume and total peripheral resistance) and the phenomenological relationships between the cardinal cardiovascular parameters and the vasopressor-inotrope dose, in such a way that the model can be adapted to individual patient solely based upon blood pressure and heart rate responses to medication dosing. In this paper, the preliminary validity of the proposed model is shown using the experimental epinephrine dose versus blood pressure and heart rate response data collected from five newborn piglets. Its performance and potential usefulness are discussed. It is anticipated that, potentially, the proposed phenomenological model may offer a meaningful first step towards the automated control of vasopressor-inotrope therapy.

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