Artificial Pancreas Could Revolutionize Treatment of Diabetes

A new subcutaneous artificial pancreas system that uses an individually prescribed control algorithm to regulate blood glucose levels in Type 1 diabetics could one day transform the way these patients manage their disease.

Researchers at the University of Virginia (UV, Charlottesville, USA) and the University of Padua (Italy) have reported they have successfully tested the new system on a total of eight patients (five in Virginia and three at Padua). The artificial pancreas is a combination of several external devices, which include an insulin pump, a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), and a software algorithm to communicate between the two. According to the researchers, the system fully maintained the patients' blood glucose levels, and the algorithm achieved excellent overnight control without any incidence of hypoglycemia. The system's novel algorithm allows for personalized treatment for each patient, since it automatically regulates the amount of insulin a patient needs. Blood glucose level control is recognized as the primary factor in avoiding the devastating complications of diabetes; hyperglycemia can lead to complications such as blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, and amputations. Hypoglycemia, on the other hand, can lead to loss of consciousness, with subsequent hospitalization, car accidents, or other serious problems. Prolonged, untreated unconsciousness due to severe hypoglycemia can even lead to brain damage or death.

"This artificial pancreas could one day greatly improve the current methods of self-treatment for Type 1 diabetes,” said Boris Kovatchev, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychiatry and neurobehavioral sciences and of systems and information engineering, who is leading the UV research team. "Instead of a patient having to measure his or her blood sugar with a glucose meter several times a day and self-administer insulin injections, this system would continuously regulate the patient's blood glucose, much like the way a non-diabetic's pancreas functions.”

Both UV and Padua University are part of an international collaboration called the Artificial Pancreas Consortium established by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF, New York, NY, USA). Other centers involved in the consortium are the University of Colorado (Denver, USA), the Sansum Diabetes Research Institute (Santa Barbara, CA, USA), Stanford University (CA, USA), Boston University (MA, USA), Yale University (New Haven, CT, USA), and Cambridge University (United Kingdom).

Related Links:
University of Virginia
University of Padua
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation