Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Doctors are reporting a major step toward an ?artificial pancreas,? a device that would constantly monitor blood sugar in people with diabetes and automatically supply insulin as needed.
A key component of such a system ? an insulin pump programmed to shut down if blood-sugar dips too low while people are sleeping ? worked as intended in a three-month study of 247 patients.
This ?smart pump,? made by Minneapolis-based Medtronic Inc., is already sold in Europe, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reviewing it now. Whether it also can be programmed to mimic a real pancreas and constantly adjust insulin based on continuous readings from a blood-sugar monitor requires more testing, but doctors say the new study suggests that?s a realistic goal.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...ca6fbc-db4c-11e2-b418-9dfa095e125d_story.html
A key component of such a system ? an insulin pump programmed to shut down if blood-sugar dips too low while people are sleeping ? worked as intended in a three-month study of 247 patients.
This ?smart pump,? made by Minneapolis-based Medtronic Inc., is already sold in Europe, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reviewing it now. Whether it also can be programmed to mimic a real pancreas and constantly adjust insulin based on continuous readings from a blood-sugar monitor requires more testing, but doctors say the new study suggests that?s a realistic goal.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...ca6fbc-db4c-11e2-b418-9dfa095e125d_story.html