How an artificial pancreas, a wearable device, can help you control diabetes

The device is indeed safe and most importantly does not increase the risk of hypoglycemia. So, it would indeed help insulin-dependent patients. But then cost and tech ease are challenges, says Dr Ambrish Mithal, Chairman and Head, Endocrinology and Diabetes, Max Healthcare

The device combines an insulin pump and glucose monitor, which link to an app that uses an algorithm to analyse blood glucose levels and deliver insulin as needed to keep levels stable. (Photo: Getty Images/Thinkstock)

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An artificial pancreas may help Type 2 diabetes patients regulate their blood glucose levels better than without it. And there’s no risk of sugar dipping to unhealthy low levels. Scientists from Cambridge University, UK, conducted a trial using the artificial pancreas, which is a closed-loop system that consists of an insulin pump and glucose monitor, and linking it to an app the researchers developed. And at the end of it, participants who used the artificial pancreas stayed in their target glucose range for twice as long as they did without the system.

The artificial pancreas is not a surgical implant but a technological device the user wears on the body that mimics how the pancreas works. Researchers from the Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science at the University of Cambridge tested the new tool on Type 2 diabetes patients, who were in end-stage renal failure and on dialysis. And now they think that this method, which can be rolled out in a year as they await approval, can just as well work on people with various stages of Type 2 diabetes. The results of the study appear in Nature Medicine. The device combines an insulin pump and glucose monitor, which link to an app that uses an algorithm to analyse blood glucose levels and deliver insulin as needed to keep levels stable.

“The success of the device doesn’t come as a surprise; it is a proof-of-concept study. The closed loop system, which can sense the glucose load and regulate insulin, has been successful in Type 1 diabetes. And since Type 2 diabetes has multifactorial triggers, this research shows that this is indeed a safe method and most importantly shows that this does not increase the risk of hypoglycemia. So, it would indeed help insulin-dependent patients for whom maintaining sugar levels is a moment to moment challenge,” says Dr Ambrish Mithal, Chairman and Head, Endocrinology and Diabetes, Max Healthcare.

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Of course, this being a single-centre study, Dr Mithal hopes it will be spread to a greater catchment area for better data collection and long-term impacts. “The two things that I find concerning are the cost of the device and the comfort of living with a tech tool and using technology. This won’t be affordable at the word go and would be quite expensive. Besides, not all insulin-dependent patients are tech savvy. I have seen many of my patients struggle with their insulin pumps in the first place. Some of my younger patients take to the pump very easily but I have seen others who are quite sensitive about slapping something onto their bodies. So the ease of wearability and the comfort of technology need to be factored in for mass use,” adds Dr Mithal.

The researchers studied a group of 26 people with Type 2 diabetes. The first group used the device for eight weeks and then switched to eight weeks of standard therapy. The second group started by receiving standard injection therapy for eight weeks and then switched to the device. The goal was to see how much time patients of each group spent with their glucose in the target range of 3.9 and 10 millimoles per liter (mmol/L), the glucose range considered acceptable. Patients with the artificial pancreas stayed within the target range 66 per cent of the time, compared to just 32 per cent when using standard injection therapy.

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