Artificial Pancreas Project
Reported July 15, 2009
(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 well 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