Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

The Artificial Pancreas For Diabetics Is Nearly Here

Posted by samzenpus on from the no-more-daily-testing dept.

the_newsbeagle writes: It's the tech that type 1 diabetics have long been waiting for: An implanted "closed-loop" system that monitors a person's blood-sugar level and adjusts injections from an insulin pump. Such a system would liberate diabetics from constant self-monitoring and give parents of diabetic children peace of mind. Thanks to improvements in glucose sensors and control algorithms, the first artificial pancreas systems are now in clinical trials.

4 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. It's not an artificial pancreas by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    It's a self regulating insulin pump. That's a wonderful for type 1 diabetics, but the pancreas produces more than just insulin.

    Glucagon is the primary axis hormone to insulin. A true artificial pancreas would monitor both hormones to optimize that relationship.

  2. Insulin Resistance by briancox2 · · Score: 1, Informative

    This is an engineering breakthrough. But we are still waiting on a medical breakthrough.

    The real problem in diabetes is not limited to having the correct amount of insulin in the blood in real time. The problem that makes diabetes so hard to treat is that a person's cells develop insulin resistance, requiring larger and larger doses of insulin to break down sugars correctly.

    --
    We should learn what we need to know about issues, before we decide what we need to feel about them.
    1. Re:Insulin Resistance by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 4, Informative

      Well, actually, there are two kinds of diabetes. In one type (adult-onset diabetes or Type 2 diabetes) the body becomes less and less responsive to insulin. This is the kind associated with obesity, and the pump won't help this much. The other type (juvenile diabetes or Type 1 diabetes) is caused by the body stopping production of insulin, generally because the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas die off. The body remains completely responsive to insulin; the problem is that there isn't any any more. This will be a godsend for people with Type I.

    2. Re:Insulin Resistance by russotto · · Score: 4, Informative

      They are at their furthest apart still symptoms of the same lifestyle problems.

      No, Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, not a symptom of a lifestyle problem. It's not caused by lifestyle either.