Artificial Pancreas Being Developed to Ease Diabetes Burden
I have an order in for one" MiniMed 530G with Enlite."
Supposedly it is 100% covered by my insurer, which is already nearly met for this year. We'll see!
However, this does NOT seem to be the same device as Gizmo is posting about ...
I don't know, but at least it's IN the body in the place where the heart goes, attached to the same veins and arteries. This thing is just a machine hooked to a needle injecting insulin, isn't it? How is that different from a pump?I don't know, does an 'artificial' heart speed up with fear, anxiety, extreme happiness?
To clarify on this forum there is a difference in terms of what an Artificial Pancreas is versus a continuous infusion pump combined with a sensor is. The Medtronic 530G is a low glucose suspend system which suspends basal delivery of insulin based upon predictive alerts of the Enlite sensor. The challenges with these is the current accuracy rate of sensors based upon extracting glucose values from interstitial fluid or serous fluid is not clinically accurate enough to do this algorithm with absolute threshold accuracy. A low glucose suspend system just suspends delivery of basal insulin. It is not a guarantee the patient will not experience hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia.It seems a little pretentious to call this thing an "artificial pancreas" unless it also emits glucn in response to lows. Isn't it just a more accurate pump?
Thanks. So, to date the differences are more accurate sensors and some kind of individualized predictive algorithm to stop insulin on the low end. And what is hoped for in the future is some kind of actual response to lows beyond suspending insulin infusion such as glucagon and the like. Right?To clarify on this forum there is a difference in terms of what an Artificial Pancreas is versus a continuous infusion pump combined with a sensor is. The Medtronic 530G is a low glucose suspend system which suspends basal delivery of insulin based upon predictive alerts of the Enlite sensor. The challenges with these is the current accuracy rate of sensors based upon extracting glucose values from interstitial fluid or serous fluid is not clinically accurate enough to do this algorithm with absolute threshold accuracy. A low glucose suspend system just suspends delivery of basal insulin. It is not a guarantee the patient will not experience hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia.
True Artificial pancreas systems must administer insulin, use more accurate sensor technology and an algorithm for that person in conjunction with counter-regulatory hormones (glucagon, leptin, epinephrine) to maintain normal blood sugar levels in response to food, exercise, illness, stress and the other challenges a normal metabolic system compensates for.