Method and system for use in treating a patient with immunosuppresants using whole blood level criteria to prevent an adverse immune response

摘要

A method and system for use in treating a patient with an immunosuppressant to prevent an adverse immune response, either a rejection of a transplanted organ or an attack on the patient's body by its own immune system caused by an autoimmune disease, without unduly suppressing the ability of the patient's immune system to combat infection. The method employs an expert system to provide non-numerical information concerning the course of action to be taken with respect to a patient's immunosuppressant treatment, at a given time, including, in particular, an instruction on whether the immunosuppressant dosage being administered to the patient should be changed, and if so how. That instruction is determined by the expert system through analysis of standardized characterizations assigned to standardized patient examination criteria including levels of the immunosuppressant in blood plasma and whole blood. The method also employs a means for determining the actual numerical immunosuppressant dosage the patient should receive at a given time.