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Ideally, treating diabetes would mimic normal pancreatic function, with a continuous feedback loop that linked insulin administration with blood glucose levels. In this report, researchers in Boston describe the use of a wearable, automated “bionic pancreas” in 20 adults and 32 adolescents with type 1 diabetes. The apparatus consisted of a subcutaneous sensor that monitored glucose continuously and a subcutaneous infusion pump that administered both insulin and glucagon. Automatically adaptive algorithms coordinated glucose levels and hormone infusion rates via wireless communication.
For each participant, 5 days of treatment with the bionic pancreas was compared with 5 days of treatment with a standard insulin pump (control intervention). M…