Pancreas from Harvard
Artificial pancreas helped diabetics avoid hypoglycemia
Daria Spasskaya, N+1
Researchers from one of the departments of Harvard have successfully conducted regular clinical trials of an artificial "pancreas" – an insulin pump with a glucose sensor implanted under the skin. The new feedback software made it possible to adapt the insulin delivery protocol and reduce periods of hypoglycemia in patients with type I diabetes. Tests have shown that the device has a therapeutic effect – after 12 weeks, the level of glycylated hemoglobin decreased in patients. The test results are published in the journal Diabetes Care, and they are briefly reported on the website of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Type I diabetes is a disease in which the function of pancreatic cells that produce insulin, a hormone that regulates blood glucose levels, is disrupted. As a result, patients are forced to inject insulin to avoid hyperglycemia.
Devices that mimic the functions of the pancreas are considered as the most promising way to control blood glucose levels in diabetic patients. Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the commercial use of such a device for the first time. The artificial "pancreas" is an insulin pump with a sensor that constantly measures the concentration of glucose in the blood. The supply of insulin is carried out constantly, but, like a real organ, the device reacts to a critical decrease or increase in glucose levels.
In the presented trial, which was supervised by the FDA, the researchers tested a new software that automatically adjusts the insulin delivery protocol on a weekly basis depending on the physiological parameters of the person who wears such a device. Thanks to this, the patient can lead a normal lifestyle, while the "organ" independently regulates the required amount of insulin depending on diet, physical activity and the state of human health without the intervention of a doctor.
The study, which lasted 12 weeks, involved 30 people with type I diabetes aged 21 to 65 years. At the beginning and at the end of the study, the participants' blood levels of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) were measured, the level of which reflects a permanent excess of sugar. By the end of the tests, this indicator had decreased by 0.3 points, from 7 to 6.7 percent of the total amount of hemoglobin.
One of the problems of artificial insulin administration is a too strong drop in the concentration of glucose in the blood (hypoglycemia) after administration of the next dose. The new protocol, compared with the standard one, made it possible to practically eliminate the problem of hypoglycemia. The time when the glucose level fell below the critical value did not exceed one to two percent of the total monitoring time.
The Harvard group's clinical trials are one of many trials of similar devices. They mainly concern the use of new control algorithms, which should achieve the maximum level of correlation between blood glucose levels and insulin supply, as well as simplify the lives of diabetic patients as much as possible.
Earlier we wrote about a similar device in the form of a patch, which is able to measure the level of glucose in the blood and, if necessary, administer medication.
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