By: Anas Syed

Diabetes Diabetes is a life-long chronic disease. It is also the 7th leading cause of death in the

US. It deals with high blood sugar and a lack of

insulin. Type 1: In type 1 diabetes the patients are not

able to produce insulin. Type 1 is only found in about 5% of people of with diabetes.

Type 2: In type 2 diabetes the patients are able to produce insulin however, their bodies build up a resistance toward the insulin.

History Diabetes was a well known disease by the

17th century. Apollonius of Memphis was the first

physician to actually call diabetes, diabetes.

If a patient was diagnosed with diabetes before the 20th century it was the same as a death sentence.

During the 1900’s the first know treatment was starvation.

History (Continues)

In 1920’s lack of insulin was pinpointed as a symptom of diabetes.

In 1944 an insulin syringe was developed in order to make diabetes more controllable.

In 1990 external insulin pumps were created for own use.

In 1993 doctors started to use glucose tablets.

Treatment Type 1 diabetes currently does not have

any known cure. Type 2 diabetes however, is manageable

and the effects can be suppressed. Type 2 diabetes can be easily controlled

with proper diet, exercise, and a few pills. Type 1 and type 2 both need medicine and

insulin pumps to control glucose and insulin.

Current Technology

The closest thing to the artificial pancreas right now is an insulin pump.

The artificial pancreas take the insulin pump to a new level by adding real-time monitoring systems.

The other technology we have is when the patients pricks themselves to check their blood sugar levels.

Artificial Pancreas

The artificial pancreas is not an actual pancreas

The idea of the artificial pancreas came in 2005 from Dr. Edward R. Damiano

He met with Dr. Steven Russell in order to design and get a medical perspective on his proposed idea.

What does it do?

The artificial pancreas is going to make the lives of diabetes much more manageable.

It uses a computer attachment to the insulin pump to continuously measure glucose in the blood and insulin in the body.

It then uses algorithms to increase the insulin levels as the body needs it.

Status of Artificial Pancreas In 2005 three diabetic pigs were used as

experimental trial. After successful results, the first human

trials were ran. The human trails were also a success

and the FDA has recently approved the continuation of this project.

Currently the University of Cambridge is running a 70 person trial in Europe.

Status of Artificial Pancreas (2) The University of Viginia is also running

test of their prototype here in the US. Patients take the artificial pancreas home

without any monitoring from doctors. As of right now, it seems that the artificial

pancreas is working perfectly in the human trials.

Estimated time of release to public is between 18 months to 4 years.

Estimated Cost: $8000 (without insurance)

How it Works The artificial pancreas has four parts in order

to make it work. There is a glucose sensor and transmitter that

measures the glucose levels every minute. It transmits the information to a receiver that

displays the glucose levels for the patients. This is connected to a small computer which

calculates how much insulin is needed. Then via Bluetooth the small computer tells

the insulin pump to release the proper amount of insulin into the patient.

Limitations

The limitations I see from this device is that it is battery powered.

Another problem I see is that if the algorithm ever messed up it doesn’t seem to have a back up system.

Finally, my last concern is what would happen if the Bluetooth signal is lost between the insulin pump and the small computer.

Future

In the future I am hoping that they can make the artificial pancreas smaller and more convenient.

They are looking for a way to stabilize the battery.

Create a back up or alert system in case Bluetooth signal is ever lost.

I would also like to see them make the algorithms more accurate .

Credits http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/61/9/2230.full http://www.diabetes.co.uk/artificial-pancreas.html http://

uvahealth.com/services/endocrine-system/conditions-treatments/artificial-pancreas-project

http://advocacy.jdrf.org/our-work/artificial-pancreas-project/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002194/#adam_001214.disease.causes

https://www.jdrf.org.uk/research/overview-of-research-programme/treat/artificial-pancreas/what-is-an-artificial-pancreas

http://www.mayo.edu/research/discoverys-edge/can-artificial-pancreas-normalize-type-1-diabetes