Artificial Pancreas System Uses Smartphone Software to Precisely Dose Insulin
Researchers have tested an "Artificial Pancreas" system that, among other things, uses a mobile device to regulate the output of an installed "organ" that puts out the exact required dose of insulin. This could be one step towards a more hands-free diabetes treatment for patients everywhere.
People living with diabetes, in most cases, have to adhere to a strict regimen of injecting themselves with just the correct amount of insulin to get them through several hours. A missed dose or a wrong amount could have life-threatening consequences, not to mention the toll on the daily schedule that regular glucose monitoring and insulin injections take.
Here's where the results of a trial run by a team of researchers from Harvard University come in. They have come up with the usual combo of an insulin pump and glucose monitor to serve as a sort of artificial "organ," then had the novel idea of hooking up the setup to a mobile device that serves as a sophisticated dose monitor.
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A specially designed software on the mobile device uses the inputs from the glucose monitor, as well as details on the patient's exercise, meals and sleep, to determine the right amount of insulin to regulate glucose levels, as summed up by Engadget.
The system even learns to customize the timing and dosage over time, using data from daily glucose cycles to refine its control over the patient's glucose.
This immediate feedback, controlled by the smart algorithm in the mobile device, already produced great results during a 12-week trial. Thirty patients with type 1 diabetes used the system for a combined 60,000 hours, going about their usual daily routines while letting the system do all the monitoring and insulin dosage for them.
The test groups, which were based in California, Virginia, and Minnesota, showed "significant" improvements. They spent less time slumped over from hypoglycemia, and considering that the group was specially selected for their discipline in self-administering insulin, it shows that the software does an even better job than some of the most rigorous of diabetes patients.
