Creation of an Artificial Pancreas for Type 1 Diabetes: What if a Type 1 diabetic could return to life as it was before diagnosis? What if they could control their blood sugar with less personal intervention? This may have been on the mind of researchers who are testing an artificial pancreas of sorts.
Every day Type 1 diabetics are testing their glucose levels and are injecting themselves with insulin to keep their blood sugars in balance. For many diabetics frustration is a constant companion.
Stanford is a participating University in a study that is providing about 75 Type 1 diabetic patients with an artificial pancreas. Early reports from ABCNews.com suggest it is proving very successful for many patients.
One such patient is Sarah Carlow who told ABC, “I test my blood sugar on average maybe ten or more times a day. I check it before breakfast, lunch and dinner. You have to check your blood sugars while you’re playing sports. I also have to count carbohydrates.” However, with the new technology Sarah is living life without glucose tests and constant carb counting.
How does it work?
According to ABCNews.com, “The sensor, just under the skin, sends a signal to the transmitter. It goes to a so-called control box, which tells the pump how much insulin to release.”
Essentially the embedded sensor would send a wireless signal to an insulin pump. The sensor monitors glucose and the pump supplies the needed insulin for glucose regulation. It would happen automatically, and patients like Sarah report no knowledge of when the insulin dose is made.
Reader tlkshultz commented, “This is something that has algorithms that tell the pump how much insulin to give the body based on the blood sugars given by the CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitoring). This would give insulin as well as glucagon to save people from going low. This would keep your BS [blood sugar] in target all the time and eliminate the complications. This is a huge step until we can get a true cure.”
This new process would link the steps involved in monitoring glucose levels with a pump that supplies insulin and all the communication to provide the same function as a pancreas. The sensor placement is not invasive and could allow patients to return to a relatively normal life.
U.S. News & World Report describes current methods of glucose control by saying; “The human pancreas meets the body’s immediate need for insulin and even anticipates it from, for example, the smell, sight, or thought of food. Conventional insulin pumps, on the other hand, are dumb: They dispense the hormone according to a preset program or when triggered manually, not by assessing the body’s needs.”
U.S. News and World Report also described some of the best news from the study, “The algorithm’s insulin-dosing instructions led to a drop of nearly 80 percent in the rate of overnight blood sugar crashes.”
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had specific guidance for the study and doctors had to be involved in every facet of insulin release through the program. The response from physicians has been largely positive especially in overnight glucose regulation.
The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation is sponsoring the study, and if the results are positive you can expect researchers to continue to press for automated glucose control among Type 1 diabetics.
Fourteen year-old Sarah Carlow sums it up well, “It would be amazing. Not having the every day, every minute, every hour hassle of worrying about my blood sugars.”
