1 Pulmonary Unit, Children's Service, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114
To the Editor.
Carlo et al1 report an "expert system" based on an algorithm for mechanical ventilation of infants with respiratory distress syndrome which would have corrected arterial blood gas derangements in 89% of 106 clinical trials. This algorithm was applied to additional trials using an independently designed computer-generated ventilation simulation program (VSP).
Written in BASIC, VSP expects its user to manage a randomly "created" infant with respiratory distress syndrome by monitoring arterial blood gas values, physical examination findings, and chest x-ray film findings.2