Artificial pancreas works in 11 patients: study

[IDemo]

(Reuters) - A test run of an "artificial pancreas" that monitors blood sugar and delivers both insulin and regulatory hormone called glucagon helped patients achieve near-normal blood sugar levels for more than 24 hours, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.

The system -- made up of a glucose monitor, two pumps and a laptop -- is designed to better mimic the body's natural mechanism of controlling both high and low blood sugar.

In previous tests of artificial pancreas systems that deliver only insulin, some patients have developed dangerously low blood sugar, known as hypoglycemia.

Adding small doses of glucagon, a hormone released by the pancreas to raise blood sugar levels, helped overcome this, according to the study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63D47V20100414

[boobooday]

1. This is exciting

I wants one.

[TheWraith]

2. Glucose monitor, two pumps, and a laptop?

They couldn't squeeze that down a little? Because I don't see that really making people's lives more convenient until they can make a model that sits on someone's belt.

[IDemo]

3. You do realize this was for the purpose of an experiment?

They were attempting to test the concept of a software controlled system utilizing two separate pumps. With sufficient results and further tweaking, the system will eventually be distilled into a small user-friendly device where firmware executes the logic and control functions now performed on the laptop. The final design will likely be about the same size as today's insulin pumps.

"The device we ultimately envision will be wearable and incorporate a glucose sensor inserted under the skin that communicates wirelessly with a pump about the size of a cell phone," says Russell, who is an instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. "The pump would administer insulin and probably glucagon, and would contain a microchip that runs the control software." - http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-04/mgh-nap041210.php

[Warpy]

4. It will eventually fit in a fanny pack

This is a prototype and they're clunky.

The first insulin pumps 25 years ago were small enough to fit into a fanny pack.