Living With An Artificial Pancreas

Life can be extremely difficult if you have type 1 diabetes. It would mean that you would have to spend the rest of your life taking insulin shots and carefully taking note of the ups and downs of your blood sugar to avoid possible complications. In recent years though, the prospect of an artificial pancreas has opened a door of hope to those with diabetes.The Pancreas

To be able to appreciate the value and role of an artificial pancreas in the lives of diabetics, one must first be able to understand the basic function of the pancreas. Aside from producing fluids that aid in digestion, this small organ also generates hormones that manage a person’s blood sugar levels.

The actual interplay of hormones and glucose is actually a little complicated but to put it simply, the pancreas releases insulin whenever we eat. It is insulin that helps sugar from food enter the cells for energy consumption. People with type 1 diabetes can’t secrete the right amount of insulin. This therefore leads to high blood sugar levels which, in the long run can eventually damage the cells and organs in the body. Long-term mismanagement of diabetes can lead to heart failure, kidney failure and blindness.

Development Objectives

Taking daily doses of insulin requires a lot of discipline. Sometimes it can be very inconvenient. An artificial pancreas is therefore ideal because it can monitor glucose levels and automatically administer machine-computed amounts of insulin. This can drastically improve the quality of life of diabetic patients by allowing them to worry less over proper insulin administration.

In recent years, studies and clinical tests have been conducted in the UK, France and the US. At present though, the artificial pancreas is a piece of technology that is still in the process of being thoroughly developed.

Artificial Pancreas

In 2001, the world had a glimpse of the first fully implantable artificial heart that was shaped like a real heart. An artificial pancreas is different. Current technological developments reveal that it will not look much like a real pancreas. It will instead be primarily composed of a glucose sensor and an insulin pump. It is however different from the manual sensors and pumps that we have been used to. Both the pump and sensor in an artificial pancreas will be fully automatic.

The glucose sensor will be responsible for continuously monitoring a person’s glucose levels. The insulin pump will then deliver the exact amount of insulin needed based on the sensor’s given data. There will be no need for typical glucose finger strip readings