In Silico Closed-Loop Control Validation Studies for Optimal Insulin Delivery in Type 1 Diabetes

This study presents a general closed-loop control strategy for optimal insulin delivery in type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM). The proposed control strategy aims toward an individualized optimal insulin delivery that consists of a patient-specific model predictive controller, a state estimator, a personalized scheduling level, and an open-loop optimization problem subjected to patient-specific process model and constraints. This control strategy can be also modified to address the case of limited patient data availability resulting in an "approximation" control strategy. Both strategies are validated in silico in the presence of predefined and unknown meal disturbances using both a novel mathematical model of glucose-insulin interactions and the UVa/Padova Simulator model as a virtual patient. The robustness of the control performance is evaluated under several conditions such as skipped meals, variability in the meal time, and metabolic uncertainty. The simulation results of the closed-loop validation studies indicate that the proposed control strategies can potentially achieve improved glycaemic control.