Artificial Pancreas; The Novel Breakthrough In Type 2 Diabetes Therapy
Dr. Adam Tabriz
“Founder @ PX6 Medical Systems | Innovating Cyber-Physical Healthcare Solutions | Transforming Patient Care & Management”
FDA Approves Artificial Pancreas With Advanced Hybrid Closed-Loop System
Illumination publication initially publicized the article on Medium!
It has been close to a decade since FDA approved the initial version of the Artificial Pancreas. Before 2016, many researchers simulated insulin production by the pancreas in laboratories. The initial experimentation with an artificial pancreas reaches back to 1964 when a large device delivered insulin through the vein and concomitantly measured blood glucose levels. However, the device could have been more convenient for daily living conditions.
The initial artificial pancreas design, also called the "Closed-Loop Insulin Delivery system," imitates the blood glucose control naturally maintained by the healthy human pancreas. That is by continual blood glucose measurement and insulin delivery process.
Applying an artificial pancreas for Type 1 diabetes was "relatively" straightforward. Merely because, in patients with Type 1 diabetes, the problem is insulin production; as for type 2 diabetes, there is insulin resistance and often higher than normal blood insulin levels.
In other words, in type 1 diabetes, the immune system destroys insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas. The artificial pancreas, thus, addresses this problem by delivering insulin levels to the patient in response to the blood glucose level. Scientists did that through three different technology integration in a single unit.
The Closed Loop insulin delivery system includes a continuous glucose monitoring sensor that transmits the data to a computer, an insulin delivery device or pump and a computer algorithm that calculates and instructs the pump on the amount of insulin to be delivered. The goal of the artificial pancreas is to minimize human intervention just as the healthy pancreas functions.
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Utility Of the Artificial Pancreas Has Previously Been An Intricate Task For Type 2 Diabetic, But Not Anymore!
Recently scientists have modernized the Closed Loop insulin delivery system. The new artificial pancreas uses an insulin pump with an Advanced Hybrid Closed-Loop System. The latter combines user control with a predictive algorithm to deliver the precise insulin needed for type 2 diabetes.
We must acknowledge that only about 20% -30% of type 2 diabetic patients require insulin. Mere because, over time, insulin-producing beta cells in these patients "burn out," thus failing to meet the demand of insulin resistance. Moreover, since, usually, there is still insulin in these patients' systems and ongoing poor sensitivity to insulin, the traditional Closed loop system did not work correctly for type 2 diabetics.
In the hybrid closed system, patients may sometimes have to intervene by giving themselves extra insulin. Furthermore, the advanced algorithm allows patients with type 2 diabetes to predict and thus consider not just continuous glucose monitoring. But also insulin already onboard patients' blood, carbohydrates are taken and enter other factors that help automatically adjust insulin delivery the dose.
Scientists at Cambridge University have successfully conducted a clinical trial of an artificial pancreas for patients with type 2 diabetes.
With the advancement of artificial intelligence and machine learning, it won't be surprising if the computer continually learns the insulin and carbohydrate trend. That includes patients' habits to simulate natural pancreas function to pinpoint precision automatically.
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Incredible! Thank you for sharing this!