Verification and Validation of an Autotuning Proportional–Integral–Derivative Controller for Spatially Confined Magnetic Particle Hyperthermia

We have previously verified the capabilities of a prototype magnetic nanoparticle (MNP) heater (called HYPER) that can perform spatially confined heating; however, the design lacked temperature control capabilities. In this work, we designed, verified, and validated a relay-based autotuning proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller to be used with the HYPER during in vivo experiments. The PID controller is an autotuning, relay-based controller with several design constraints: The controller must: (1) maintain tumor temperature within hyperthermic range of 41-46 °C; (2) rise time ≤ 5 min; (3) steady-state temperature must be within ±0.5 °C of the setpoint; (4) standard deviation of steady-state temperature within ±0.5 °C; and (5) temperature overshoot within 5%. The relay-based autotuning PID controller was designed in LabVIEW^® with real-time thermal dose monitoring. Verification experiments were performed by heating aqueous suspensions of high-performance iron oxide MNPs. For validation, we injected the MNPs into tumor-bearing mice and analyzed the ability of the controller to maintain in vivo temperature. The results of the study show that controller was able to maintain the temperature within the hyperthermic range with a rise time ∼4 min and steady-state error ∼0.1 °C. Validation was performed on six mice, where four mice showed the temperature was maintained within design criteria and two mice partially met the design criteria. The autotuning controller can maintain the temperature within the design criteria and monitor thermal dose in real-time.