Do type 1 diabetics constantly have to worry about checking their blood sugar?
Dr. Kovatchev: Yes, that’s the major burden of type 1 diabetes – people have to think about that at all times, measure as frequently as they can with the available technology, and make insulin adjustments all the time. What is the artificial pancreas that you are studying? Dr. Kovatchev: It combines two existing devices – the insulin pump and the continuous glucose monitor – and puts essentially, a brain in between them. The brain, in this case, is an algorithm that takes the readings from the continuous glucose monitor, makes pretty tough calculations, and determines how much insulin is to be delivered right now. The major obstacle and the major disadvantage that the artificial pancreas has compared to the normal pancreas is the time delay of reading conduction. In healthy people, the normal pancreas is inside and reacts quickly, receives quickly information about raising blood glucose levels, and reacts quickly with insulin delivery, which takes place within 10, 15 minutes of detecti
