Slashdot Mirror
The Artificial Pancreas For Diabetics Is Nearly Here
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.
My sister would disagree with your assessment, and she's been a diabetic since she was 4 years old(31 years of shots now). If my great aunt was still alive, she'd be jumping for it too since she'd been a diabetic for ~70 odd years. There are plenty of methods to avoid hypoglycemia from working out, this in itself is a huge step in the current pump a needle in you every 2/4/6/8 hours that exists now.
The biggest problem is with kids and getting them to do monitoring, tests, etc., since many of them don't understand not doing something like that will kill you. It's a concept that a 4 year old can't get, no matter how simple you explain it to them.
Om, nomnomnom...
Since it does not produce it's own insulin it is not an artificial pancreas. It is an automatic insulin pump. It still has to be refilled with insulin periodically. It is an improvement but is not a replacement for a pancreas.
How regular is regular though? Taking a test once every 3 months and adjusting your medication up or down a fraction of a milligram is an inconvenience. But it's a lot better then having to test 4-8 times a day and making significant changes to the dosage level due to what was ate, activities planned, illness, and how the body reacts to all of that. As a diabetic myself, I'd trade in an instant having to deal with hyper/hypo-thyroidism over diabetes any day.