(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Currently, many diabetic patients use a pump
requiring blood sugar testing 10 to 12 times daily and are required to manually
set their insulin pump five to six times each day. An artificial pancreas could
change the lifestyle for diabetic patients, eliminating this repetitive process
from their daily routine.
The artificial pancreas is composed of three parts involving two devices that
are attached to the body but inserted into the skin. The first component is a
monitor that tells the patient their blood sugar at all times; the second, an
insulin pump. The last part is a computer inside either device. The computer
takes the blood sugar reading, calculates the insulin dose needed and
automatically relays the data to the pump. The computer recalculates every
minute, telling the pump to either release insulin or hold off -- requiring no
manual work by the patient.
“It will be a number of years before we have a fully automated system that does
everything, but what we’ll have before that are devices -- like we have now --
but do a little bit more together,” Stuart Weinzimer, M.D., associate professor
of pediatrics at the Yale School of Medicine, told Ivanhoe. Dr. Weinzimer hopes
the artificial pancreas could FDA-approved and available to the public in about
ten years.
SOURCE: Ivanhoe interview with Stuart A. Weinzimer, MD; Friends for Life
International Children with Diabetes Conference, July 9, 2009
