Flow and temperature control for an innovative hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy equipment

Nowadays cytoreductive surgery followed by hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) represents a standard treatment for Peritoneal Carcinomatosis, a final stage of abdominal cancer. HIPEC requires the use of an equipment that delivers the cytostatic solution inside the peritoneal cavity at high temperature of 41°C-43°C. In this paper the authors present a temperature control structure for an innovative HIPEC equipment, that is under development. A discrete Internal Model Controller is designed for the cytostatic solution's temperature control. Due to the fact that the heating process depends on the time the solution spends inside the heating element a feed-forward control structure in respect to the solution flow is also analyzed.