Artificial Pancreas for Type 1 Diabetes

Good news to all the diabetes patients as the new clinical study produced soothing results that artificial pancreas can provide an effective cure for Type 1 Diabetes. Researchers feel that these results would revolutionize the treatments and the ways to deal with Type 1 Diabetes. The whole study was carried out by a team of researchers at the University of Virginia Health System. The researchers tested a computerized system that is placed under the skin to control glucose levels in the blood. The system managed to reduce hypoglycemia level in diabetes patients by almost five-fold. Hypoglycemia is a disorder caused by low blood sugar levels that can lead to coma, seizures and even death.

When asked about this study, Boris Kovatchev, lead investigator and associate professor of psychiatry and neurobehavioral sciences in the University School of Medicine, said that, these were the first substantial results that have come up from the study and are very encouraging. This new system has been tried on 20 Type 1 diabetes patients. Each of these 20 people was admitted to the hospital for 2 sessions, each session last for 24 hours. During the admission, all patients were asked to have identical diet, rest time and physical activities.

The first session of their admission in the hospital was an open-looped” session, where all these people controlled their blood sugar level by means of insulin injections. It was during the second admission the actual test was carried out. Each patient’s medical data collected from the first visit was analyzed and programmed into the “closed-looped” artificial computerized “pancreas”. This new device then measured the blood sugar levels and automatically shelled out the needed amount of insulin. After this was carried out, the results were compared to determine the difference in the glucose control.

The original goal of these tests were to control the post-dinner blood glucose levels to a normal state by 11.00 pm, to achieve a tight control during the night time without hypoglycemia and also to control the rising blood sugar level after a mild breakfast said Kovatchev. He also added that, with the closed looped session there was a drastic decrease in the levels of hypoglycemia episodes. The number hypoglycemia decreased from 23 in the open-loop session to just 5 for the closed-loop session. The overnight blood glucose level’s data collected for the closed looped session also showed that it was almost 100% within the targeted range.

With the promising result, Kovatchev told the press that, this artificial pancreas system could revolutionize the treatments given to Type 1 Diabetes patients. It will be very useful for the patients as they need not check regularly for the blood sugar levels with a glucose meter and self-administer insulin injections. This new system will work automatically and in essence does the job that a normal pancreas does.