Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling Varied Cannula Infusion of Insulin in Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue

Abstract

Adipose tissue is a very important biologic component to nutrient storage and transport as well as a commonly used medium for drug delivery. Continuous insulin infusion using pump therapy for the treatment of Type 1 Diabetes is one of the most notable of these drug delivery cases. Though the adipose subspace is used for insulin delivery, the flow mechanics of the fluid and drug within the extracellular space is not currently well understood, and difficult to study by experimentation. This study therefore was completed to develop a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model that incorporated adipose region interstitial flow that would be induced in the adipose region by oncotic pressure driven fluid flow from the capillaries to consider trends in the deposition and dispersion of insulin in relation to current market cannulas used in insulin pump. The study was able to show that the CFD model developed could obtain results very similar to ex vivo experimentation found in literature. Further, the results indicated that cannula geometry likely does not have a drastic effect on insulin deposition size. The study was able to indicate that cannula geometry could have a large effect on insulin dispersion within the adipose region which has implication for insulin therapy success in regard to drug absorption into the capillaries of the adipose subspace.