Article Summary #11

Author unknown. Artificial pancreas hope for children with diabetes. BBC News. 5 Feb 2010

Scientists in Cambridge have found that an artificial pancreas can be used to regulate blood sugar in children with Type 1 diabetes. This trial found that combining a “real time” sensor measuring glucose levels with a pump that delivers insulin can boost overnight blood sugar control. The study showed that the device cut the risk of blood sugar levels dropping too low. Type 1 diabetes is a life threatening conditions where the pancreas does not produce insulin.

Seventeen children and teenagers with Type 1 diabetes participated in the study that included 54 nights in the hospital. The glucose monitoring system and the insulin pump used in the study are both already used and commercially available. The problem would be to turn them into a closed loop system. This would have to monitor the patients condition and deliver the treatment accordingly. For this, researchers developed a algorithm to calculate the appropriate amount of insulin to deliver to the body based on real time glucose readings. Then, they measure how well the artificial pancreas system controls the glucose levels compared with the children’s regular continuous pump.

The testing was done in different circumstances to increase the risk of low blood sugar attacks. The results showed the artificial pancreas kept the blood glucose levels in the normal range for 60 percent of the time, compared with 40 percent for the continuous pump. The artificial pancreas halved the time the blood glucose levels fell below 3.9mmol/l. It also prevented blood glucose falling below 3.0mmol/l.