"artificial pancreas to revolutionise diabetes care in England"

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Windy

Windy

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
My husband just rung me from work cos he heard about this on the radio. Please forgive my ignorance as I've only been a type on for just over a year . What's differant with this to what I see and hear off the pump thats about now?
 
Morning @gillrogers, I'm T2, so this isn't really stuff I know about, but from what I read, it's a trial being run for a thousand T1s with a closed loop system where the BG monitor "talks" to the pump so that it adjusts the insulin automatically, but you still need to tell it what you're going to eat, so it can adjust for the carbs in the meal.
I don't know where the trial is being run, or how they pick their T1s to be part of it though.
Sarah
 
Windy said:
Morning @gillrogers, I'm T2, so this isn't really stuff I know about, but from what I read, it's a trial being run for a thousand T1s with a closed loop system where the BG monitor "talks" to the pump so that it adjusts the insulin automatically, but you still need to tell it what you're going to eat, so it can adjust for the carbs in the meal.
I don't know where the trial is being run, or how they pick their T1s to be part of it though.
Sarah
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Thanks Sarah. I just said to my husband that it can't be fully automated because it has no way of telling how many carbs you've just eaten. So you need to dial that in. So the pumps in use currently don't have the link with the sensor . Be interesting to find out more
 
Windy said:
I believe there are pumps which can be linked to a sensor already, but they're v expensive, and not widely used because of the cost.
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I've been starting to look into them as I'm so sensitive to the insulin while I'm moving about but as soon I sit down it grinds to almost a halt lol. I've got days where I can be busy all morning and nothing in the afternoon except paperwork. So I adjust my basal down then find I need it back up later. Sadly I'm just under the criteria for one with my hba1c . Having said that I've got a review Monday so who knows lol.
 
I normally wouldn't wish for someone to have a higher HbA1c, but I hope yours sneaks over the threashold for the criteria,
Best of luck with your review Gill 🙂
Sarah
 
Windy said:
I normally wouldn't wish for someone to have a higher HbA1c, but I hope yours sneaks over the threashold for the criteria,
Best of luck with your review Gill 🙂
Sarah
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Haha I know what you mean. To be honest I think it probably will lol
 
I was surprised to see this article on the BBC today because, I believe, the trial started in the summer last year.
Anyone know why it suddenly has high profile?

And (sorry for the questions) how does this differ from what Medtronic and T-Slim offer today?
 
helli said:
I was surprised to see this article on the BBC today because, I believe, the trial started in the summer last year.
Anyone know why it suddenly has high profile?

And (sorry for the questions) how does this differ from what Medtronic and T-Slim offer today?
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Is it the link with the sensor? I don't know enough about them to start with keen to know as I'm feeling I need to go down the pump route.
 
gillrogers said:
Is it the link with the sensor? I don't know enough about them to start with keen to know as I'm feeling I need to go down the pump route.
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Yes, here are a number of pumps available today such as those I listed which are connected to a CGM.

The Medtrum pump which I have links to its CGM (which I have trialled) but only to suspend basal when low; it does not add more when high.

Pumps linked to CGMs are more expensive so less available unless you chose to self fund the CGM.
However, there seems to be an understandable reluctance to move people onto a pump until they are very very familiar with MDI so that they can revery easily in the stressful situation when a pump fails.
Feel free to ask your DSN about pumps but do not be surprised if they decline at the moment.
 
I heard the stuff on the radio this morning and got the sense that the "journalists" were reacting to a press release either from the NHS looking for a "good news" story or a manufacturer looking to drum up business from the NHS rather than providing a balanced refection based on their looking at the issue in the round. Closed loop systems have got to be the way to go but my understanding from reading comments on this forum are that there is much to be sorted out before they could be rolled out with confidence. Large trials indicate progress which is to be lauded but describing the system as "an artificial pancreas" is, for me, just another example of lazy journalism.
 
Docb said:
I heard the stuff on the radio this morning and got the sense that the "journalists" were reacting to a press release either from the NHS looking for a "good news" story or a manufacturer looking to drum up business from the NHS rather than providing a balanced refection based on their looking at the issue in the round. Closed loop systems have got to be the way to go but my understanding from reading comments on this forum are that there is much to be sorted out before they could be rolled out with confidence. Large trials indicate progress which is to be lauded but describing the system as "an artificial pancreas" is, for me, just another example of lazy journalism.
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Partha shared it today on Facebook so and from a post from him yesterday it sounds like he's been involved.
 
I've just seen the report on BBC news, It's nothing new from what I can gather.
Only thing of note was the young lady being interviewed with her dog. Dog needs a face trim as it can't see where it's going and that amount of hair around it's eyes can not be good for it :(
 
helli said:
Yes, here are a number of pumps available today such as those I listed which are connected to a CGM.

The Medtrum pump which I have links to its CGM (which I have trialled) but only to suspend basal when low; it does not add more when high.

Pumps linked to CGMs are more expensive so less available unless you chose to self fund the CGM.
However, there seems to be an understandable reluctance to move people onto a pump until they are very very familiar with MDI so that they can revery easily in the stressful situation when a pump fails.
Feel free to ask your DSN about pumps but do not be surprised if they decline at the moment.
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Yes I had thought that might be the case. I had been wondering what happens if they fail and how they fail.
 
I was pleased to find that they have broadened the list of sensors , and now include those for the Medtronic pumps. I wonder if that was a result of the slight price drop in their sensors/transmitters.

It is still likely to be difficult to get these but so was the Libre at the start, and the prices differences are getting smaller. Who knows where we will be in a few years. With more of these available it will certainly help to reduce the development of long term side effects, but that will be a long term saving rather than short term, and so unlikely to fall under the same umberella.

Partha has been a big advocate for access to tech and was instrumental in getting the trial of the looping set up. Long May we have him as our advocate.
 
The systems will always be an approximation of a real pancreas. Only when you can take a photo of the food you are about to eat, with an algorithm to calculate the carbs which inputs to the pump while at the same time considering the current BG value, will there be an artificial pancreas. It isn’t beyond current technology, if anybody wanted life easier for T1s.
 
Frustratingly journalists have been using the phrase “world’s first artificial pancreas” with every iteration of sensor-augmented insulin pumps ever since Medtronic’s Veo with low glucose suspend 🙄

Eventually there may be a fully automated system which delivers insulin that can act more responsively/rapidly (and will switch off just as quickly) and won’t need us to faff around with carb counting and all that nonsense - but by then the allure of the phrase will surely have worn off and people won’t care any more :D
 
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