Variability of Target-controlled Infusion Is Less Than the Variability after Bolus Injection

Abstract

TCI devices neither create nor eliminate biologic variability. For any drug described by linear pharmacokinetic models, no infusion regimen, including TCI, can have higher variability than that observed after bolus injection. The median performance of TCI devices should be reasonably close to the prediction of the device. However, the overall spread of the observations is an intrinsic property of the drug, not the TCI delivery system.