Method for use in treating a patient with FK 506 to prevent an adverse immune response
First Claim
1. A method for treating a patient to prevent an adverse immune response by partially suppressing the patient'"'"'s immune system without unduly suppressing the ability of the immune system to combat infection, comprising the steps of:
- (a) administering an initial dose of FK 506 to the patient;
(b) examining the patient to determine information concerning patient examination criteria;
(c) assigning a characterization to each of the patient examination criteria, each such characterization being selected from a predetermined standardized range of characterizations applicable to each patient examination criterion;
(d) providing the assigned characterizations to a computing device comprising;
a knowledge base comprising rules which include one of a plurality of treatment instructions in response to at least one of various combinations of the characterizations which can be assigned to the patient examination criteria, andan expert computer program including a first routine for prompting, through an output means, a user to enter, through an input means, the assigned characterizations;
a second routine for selecting a treatment instruction by locating a rule which covers the assigned characterizations, and thereby determines the treatment instruction; and
a third routine for communicating the treatment instruction to the output means;
(e) receiving from the computing device the treatment instruction; and
(f) administering a next FK 506 dose to the patient in accordance with the treatment instruction.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for use in treating a patient with FK 506 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 FK 506 treatment, at a given time, including, in particular, an instruction on whether the FK 506 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 provided to the expert system. The method also employs a means for determining the actual numerical FK 506 dosage the patient should receive at a given time.
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Citations
37 Claims
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1. A method for treating a patient to prevent an adverse immune response by partially suppressing the patient'"'"'s immune system without unduly suppressing the ability of the immune system to combat infection, comprising the steps of:
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(a) administering an initial dose of FK 506 to the patient; (b) examining the patient to determine information concerning patient examination criteria; (c) assigning a characterization to each of the patient examination criteria, each such characterization being selected from a predetermined standardized range of characterizations applicable to each patient examination criterion; (d) providing the assigned characterizations to a computing device comprising; a knowledge base comprising rules which include one of a plurality of treatment instructions in response to at least one of various combinations of the characterizations which can be assigned to the patient examination criteria, and an expert computer program including a first routine for prompting, through an output means, a user to enter, through an input means, the assigned characterizations;
a second routine for selecting a treatment instruction by locating a rule which covers the assigned characterizations, and thereby determines the treatment instruction; and
a third routine for communicating the treatment instruction to the output means;(e) receiving from the computing device the treatment instruction; and (f) administering a next FK 506 dose to the patient in accordance with the treatment instruction. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A method for treating a patient to prevent an adverse immune response by partially suppressing the patient'"'"'s immune system without unduly suppressing the ability of the immune system to combat infection, comprising the steps of:
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(a) administering an initial dose of FK 506 to the patient; (b) examining the patient to determine the patient'"'"'s current FK 506 blood plasma level; (c) assigning a characterization to the patient'"'"'s current FK 506 blood plasma level from a predetermined standardized range of characterizations; (d) providing the patient'"'"'s current FK 506 dosage and the characterization assigned to the patient'"'"'s current FK 506 blood plasma level to a computing device comprising; a knowledge base comprising rules which include one of a finite number of values for a decreased next FK 506 dosage in response to at least one of various combinations of characterizations which can be assigned to the patient'"'"'s current FK 506 blood plasma level and values for the patient'"'"'s current FK 506 dosage; and an expert computer program including a first routine for prompting, through an output means, a user to enter, through an input means, the patient'"'"'s current FK 506 dosage and the characterization assigned to the patient'"'"'s current FK 506 blood plasma level;
a second routine for selecting the next FK 506 dosage by locating the rule which covers the patient'"'"'s current FK 506 dosage and the characterization assigned to the patient'"'"'s current FK 506 blood plasma level, and thereby determines the decreased next FK 506 dosage; and
a third routine for communicating the decreased next FK 506 dosage to the output means;(e) receiving from the computing device the decreased next FK 506 dosage; and (f) administering a next FK 506 dose in accordance with the decreased next FK 506 dosage determined by the computing device.
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25. A method for treating a patient to prevent an adverse immune response by partially suppressing the patient'"'"'s immune system without unduly suppressing the ability of the immune system to combat infection, comprising the steps of:
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(a) administering an initial dose of FK 506 to the patient; (b) examining the patient to determine the patient'"'"'s current FK 506 blood plasma level; (c) determining a desired FK 506 level for the patient; (d) providing the patient'"'"'s current FK 506 dosage, the patient'"'"'s current FK 506 blood plasma level and the desired FK 506 level for the patient to a computing device comprising; a knowledge base comprising rules which include one of a finite number of values for a next FK 506 dosage in response to at least one of various combinations of values for the current FK 506 dosage, current FK 506 blood plasma level and the desired FK 506 level; and an expert computer program including a first routine for prompting, through an output means, a user to enter, through an input means, the patient'"'"'s current FK 506 dosage, the patient'"'"'s current FK 506 blood plasma level and the desired FK 506 level for the patient;
a second routine for selecting the next FK 506 dosage by locating the rule which covers the patient'"'"'s current FK 506 dosage, the patient'"'"'s current FK 506 blood plasma level and the desired FK 506 level for the patient, and thereby determines the next FK 506 dosage; and
a third routine for communicating the next FK 506 dosage to the output means;(e) receiving from the computing device the next FK 506 dosage; and (f) administering a next FK 506 dose in accordance with the next FK 506 dosage determined by the computing device. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A method for treating a patient to prevent an adverse immune response by partially suppressing the patient'"'"'s immune system without unduly suppressing the ability of the immune system to combat infection, comprising the steps of:
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(a) administering an initial dose of FK 506 to the patient; (b) examining the patient to determine the patient'"'"'s current FK 506 blood plasma level; (c) determining a desired FK 506 level for the patient; (d) employing the following relationship along with the patient'"'"'s current FK 506 dosage, the patient'"'"'s current FK 506 blood plasma level, and the desired FK 506 level for the patient to determine a next FK 506 dosage;
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">ND=CD-((((CL-DL)/CL)/(1+(CD/40)))CD),wherein, ND=the next FK 506 dosage, CD=the patient'"'"'s current FK 506 dosage, CL=the patient'"'"'s current FK 506 blood plasma level, and DL=the desired FK 506 level for the patient; and (e) administering a next dose of FK 506 to the patient in accordance with the next FK 506 dosage determined from the relationship. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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32. A method for treating a patient to prevent an adverse immune response by partially suppressing the patient'"'"'s immune system without unduly suppressing the ability of the system to combat infection, comprising the steps of:
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(a) administering an initial dose of FK 506 to the patient; (b) examining the patient to determine the patient'"'"'s current FK 506 blood plasma level; (c) determining a desired FK 506 level for the patient; (d) employing the following relationship along with the patient'"'"'s current FK 506 dosage, the patient'"'"'s current FK 506 blood plasma level, and a potential next FK 506 dosage to determine a next FK 506 dosage by finding a potential next FK 506 dosage which will provide a potential desired FK 506 level which corresponds to the desired FK 506 level for the patient;
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">PDL=(((PND-CD)/CD)(1+(CD /
40))(CL))+CLwherein, PND=the potential next FK 506 dosage, CD=the patient'"'"'s current FK 506 dosage, CL=the patient'"'"'s current FK 506 blood plasma level, and PDL=the potential desired FK 506 level; and (e) administering a next dose of FK 506 to the patient in accordance with the next FK 506 dosage determined from the relationship.
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Specification