Artificial pancreas trial successful, type 2 diabetes patients may get better treatment

Science Fiction Network, January 12 (Xu Mingyang) A study was published in the recent journal Nature Medicine. Scientists from the University of Cambridge in the UK said that they have successfully tested an artificial pancreas that can be used by people with type 2 diabetes. Compared with the current standard solution, the time spent by users of the device within the glucose target range has doubled and the time spent experiencing high blood sugar levels has been halved.

The typical symptoms of type 2 diabetes are "three mores and one less", namely, drinking more, eating more, urinating more, and losing weight. In addition, there may also be symptoms such as loss of strength, memory loss, palpitations, anxiety, and insomnia. If blood sugar cannot be controlled for a long time, it may cause blindness, kidney failure, nerve damage and other problems. According to statistics, about 420 million people in the world suffer from type 2 diabetes, and the diabetes rate in my country reached 10.4% in 2013.

Type 2 diabetes is caused by insufficient insulin secretion or insulin resistance, which leads to high blood sugar levels. Insulin is a protein hormone secreted by the beta cells of the pancreas and is the only hormone in the body that lowers blood sugar. Exogenous insulin is mainly used to treat diabetes.

The artificial pancreas tested by scientists combines a glucose monitor and insulin pump with an app developed by their team that can predict the amount of insulin needed to maintain glucose at healthy levels, and the artificial pancreas is fully automated.

Scientists divided 26 patients into two groups. One group of patients first used the artificial pancreas for 8 weeks and then switched to the standard regimen of multiple daily insulin injections. The other group of patients switched to the artificial pancreas after 8 weeks of the standard regimen. The results showed that the control group had high blood sugar levels 67% of the time, while the patients who first used the artificial pancreas had high blood sugar levels 33% of the time.

Scientists say that compared with insulin injections, artificial pancreas is safer, more effective and easier to use.