Thanks to a trial led by endocrinologist Dr. Rémi Rabasa-Lhoret, the wellbeing of people with type 1 diabetes may be improved with an external artificial pancreas. The results, which were published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), showed that, in comparison with conventional diabetes treatment using an insulin pump, a dual-hormone artificial pancreas improved glucose levels and lowered risks of hypoglycaemia.
So what exactly is an artificial pancreas? This automated system continuously adapts your insulin delivery based on changes in your glucose levels, simulating what a real pancreas does. The dual-hormone artificial pancreas, which Rabasa-Lhoret’s team from IRCM tested, does this by taking continuous glucose monitor (CGM) readings, guided by an advanced algorithm, and automatically delivering insulin and glucagon if necessary.
Engineer Ahmad Haidar, first author of the study and doctoral student in Dr. Rabasa-Lhoret’s research unit at the IRCM and at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at McGill University, explained, ‘We found that the artificial pancreas improved glucose control by 15% and significantly reduced the risk of hypoglycaemia as compared with conventional insulin pump therapy. The artificial pancreas also resulted in an eight-fold reduction of the overall risk of hypoglycaemia, and a 20-fold reduction of the risk of nocturnal hypoglycaemia.’
This discovery is important to your wellness when you have type 1 diabetes, as this disease means that you have to carefully manage your blood glucose levels to ensure they remain within a target range. Controlling your blood glucose is vital in preventing serious long-term complications related to high glucose levels, like as blindness or kidney failure, as well as low blood glucose levels, which can lead to hypoglycaemia. This condition can cause confusion, disorientation and, in severe cases, loss of consciousness.
According to Dr. Rabasa-Lhoret, Director of the Obesity, Metabolism and Diabetes research clinic at the IRCM, ‘Approximately two-thirds of patients don’t achieve their target range with current treatments. The artificial pancreas could help them reach these targets and reduce the risk of hypoglycaemia, which is feared by most patients and remains the most common adverse effect of insulin therapy. In fact, nocturnal hypoglycaemia is the main barrier to reaching glycaemic targets.’
Haidar added, ‘Infusion pumps and glucose sensors are already commercially-available, but patients must frequently check the sensor and adjust the pump’s output. To liberate them from this sizable challenge, we needed to find a way for the sensor to talk to the pump directly. So we developed an intelligent dosing algorithm, which is the brain of the system. It can constantly recalculate insulin dosing based on changing glucose levels, in a similar way to the GPS system in a car, which recalculates directions according to traffic or an itinerary change.’
Comments are closed.