Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis of false alarms in capnography (CO/sub 2/ monitoring)

False alarming conditions in capnography have become so frequent that the alarms themselves have become a nuisance to anesthesiologists and are sometimes perceived as unhelpful. In this paper, we will use ROC (receiver operating characteristic) analysis to evaluate the validity of thresholds and time delays in order to minimize false alarms. Simulations of stored case studies will be used to test the varying thresholds and time delays in order to generate the respective ROC curves for final analysis.