Artificial Pancreas Being Tested To Cure Type I & II Diabetes

Artificial pancreas gives girl a vacation from diabetes

www.cnn.com...
News Date: Sun March 4, 2012

Portsmouth, New Hampshire (CNN) -- At 3:30 a.m., Stefany Shaheen awoke to a feeling of uneasiness. Something was not quite right with her daughter, Elle.

Creeping into her bedroom, Shaheen removed a lancet from its wrapper and poked her diabetic daughter's finger.

Putting the blood onto the testing strip, she saw the results: dangerously low blood sugar. Shaheen woke Elle up and gave her orange juice to keep her from slipping into unconsciousness.

Shaheen was relieved her motherly intuition had told her something was wrong with Elle that night, but she wished she didn't have to rely on it. She yearned for an automatic way of knowing when Elle was dipping into a dangerously high or low blood sugar -- and not just at night, but at school, where the 12-year-old is largely responsible for monitoring her own blood sugar.
Elizabeth Cohen is a senior medical correspondent for CNN.
Elizabeth Cohen is a senior medical correspondent for CNN.

Then last week, Shaheen got her wish.

Elle was selected to try out an experimental device called an artificial or "bionic" pancreas. During the three-day study, Elle didn't have to poke her finger every few hours to find out her blood sugar level because the "bionic" pancreas recorded it automatically and adjusted her insulin accordingly.

Shaheen didn't have to set her alarm to wake up every three hours at night because the device was designed to catch a dangerously high or low blood sugar and treat it.

"For the first time since she was diagnosed, I didn't have to worry," says Shaheen, who lives in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Medical device companies are racing to be the first to market an artificial pancreas, which takes over the work of the diabetic's malfunctioning organ. The device could potentially be used for Type 1 diabetics or Type 2 diabetics who use insulin.

"It's transformative technology," says Aaron Kowalski, assistant vice president for treatment therapies research at JDRF, a research foundation for juvenile diabetes.

JDRF is funding artificial pancreas trials at 13 sites worldwide, including Yale University, Stanford University, the University of Virginia and the University of Colorado. Device companies also are funding several other studies.
Artificial pancreas a 'game changer'

"It's looking incredibly promising," Kowalski says. "I hope very much we'll have a system on the market within four years, and I'll be very disappointed if we don't."

Note: Doctors are saying that this new device may be available to people who have diabetes in the next 4 years to take home with them. Trials are proving slowly this treatment works. So who knows what the future will hold.

Makes me also wonder about the conspiracy behind this. It reminds me of the movie "Repo Men"

Thats good news to lots of people. Of course it is not a bionic pancreas,not even close. It is just a marketing trick.
Pancreas not only does not need a laptop , it produces insulin itself and does not need batteries.
This is simply upgraded close circle insulin pump. The patients will certainly benefit,though.

reply to post by ZeroKnowledge


Whoops, my bad....changed the thread title.

reply to post by Skywatcher2011

Thanks for the thread. I will tell you from my experience with a continuous glucose monitor I am skeptical about this technology.

Let me explain. In the second video titled "ABC News Update: Artificial Pancreas" the young lady is wearing a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) and insulin pump made by Mini-Med which is being used in the trial. My experience with the CGM was just awful. The current technology is setup to warn users of low glucose or optionally high glucose. You can even set a predictive alert, so if it senses that the user is trending toward a low, it will sound an alert. I was diagnosed as type 1 in Oct 2010 and this was something that my doctors pushed for. They told me that it would keep me safe & cut back on the worry of over-night lows, so I bought into it. Reality was far different.

First the CGM has to be calibrated every 12 hours and you can not have anything that effects your blood sugar for a few hours before or after the calibration. Makes it a little tricky when not living a very regimental lifestyle. Second the darn thing would wake me up every 3-4 hours during the night warning about a low. I would get up and check, my blood sugar would be completely normal. When I inquired about that problem, I was told that if I slept in one position for too long it could throw the sensor off. (!?!) Third, the transmitter does not have a very good range. So if the sensor/transmitter is attached to my left side & my pump (it receives the info) is clipped to my right hip pocket I would get "loss of signal" alerts.

Point being, if the tech can't currently do the simple job of "you are about to have a low" how can I trust it to give me the correct insulin dose?

My final complaint with this tech, it was revealed last year that insulin pumps are easily hacked wirelessly. Some insulin pumps are controlled with a sort of remote control and a tech guy was able to hack the signal on his pump and dose without the remote! Now that is a scary prospect.

I would love for this to be viable tech, but until they have reliable sensors and much more secure wireless transmissions, I just don't feel comfortable with what they might offer.

OiO

reply to post by Skywatcher2011


Thanks for the thread op s & flagged , as a type 1 diabetic this gives us all hope of leading a normal life, lets hope they iron out the problems and it becomes available . Would be so nice not to have to stick needles in myself constantly

It would be great if and when the bugs and size is worked out to have a normal life style.

This is so indicative of how we look to solve relatively simply problems. A gigantic, expensive, largely pointless effort is the American way. Artificial heart anyone? Remember Barney Clark? The man carried around a suitcase of mechanics that was supposed to end all heart problems for good, where is it now? This is the same 'good for tv' story that is never going anywhere - ever.

Diabetes can be attributed to three things: Pancreatic Tuberculosis bacteria, which many folks have and contributes to the issue. Blocked, or distorted Colon which distorts the shape of the pancreas itself, thereby causing it to malfunction. And carbohydrates, especially processed food stuffs/sugars.

Ridding oneself of the Bacteria, doing a lengthy colon cleanse though various modalities including herbs and visceral manipulation and ending the consumption of carbs, especially process food stuffs, will solve the problem with in a few months. But there is no money, no tv spots, no glory, like there was for Jarvic and Barney Clark - remember them and their suitcase cure for heart disease?

Originally posted by crankyoldman
Diabetes can be attributed to three things: Pancreatic Tuberculosis bacteria, which many folks have and contributes to the issue. Blocked, or distorted Colon which distorts the shape of the pancreas itself, thereby causing it to malfunction. And carbohydrates, especially processed food stuffs/sugars.

And this has to do with the autoimmune disorder that is Type 1 Diabetes how?? There is nothing you listed above that can be "fixed" enough to re-grow beta cells.

Not all diabetes is Type 2. Heck, not all diabetes falls into 2 types!!!

OiO

Artificial pancreas could be ready in 2017 for diabetics:



www.cnbc.com...

I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes almost three years ago now.

I am not on a pump, but I have had no complications (no seizures and no hospitalization and good hemoglobin a1c results). Not really interested in a pump at this time in my life but maybe later in life, when I'm much older. I don't like poking myself all the time to check my BS, lol, but I do it cause... I like my limbs, and life.

I agree with the sentiment of one of the posters above in that people spend lots of money treating symptoms rather than spending money to help prevent these symptoms from ever surfacing. I think we should focus on why this is happening, like mentioned, and work towards preventing it from happening (but in the mean time, surviving by treating symptoms), even though the post above has little relation to Type 1 diabetes... which most people know very little about.

OneisOne probably understands how often people act like they know something just because they heard the word "diabetes," and then judge you immediately as if you never took care of yourself properly and that's why you have diabetes(despite being thin and looking relatively normal and healthy). Which isn't the case with Type 1. I would bet that the multitude don't understand what auto-immune even means (most people that have any kind of idea think aids, hiv! like omg!). I don't even have much of an idea, but I know it involves anti-bodies in the blood that attack the islets on the pancreas. And no one knows how those anti-bodies come about or why the gene that makes them is expressed/turned on, but some say extreme stress is one component.

Thanks for this post though. I really appreciate the comments going on, too.

A Co-Worker of mine is a type 1 Diabetic so when I see stories like this,it makes me hopeful.Just thinking about technology that can mimic a pancreas is amazing.