In Perpignan, three people with diabetes now live with an artificial pancreas. This first in France was carried out by the endocrinology department of the city’s hospital center.
THE ESSENTIAL
- The artificial pancreas helps regulate insulin production
- This technique has so far only been used in clinical trials.
Isabelle, Bruno and Roger’s life changed at the beginning of November, when they were fitted with an artificial pancreas. This medical revolution is a first in France, carried out by the endocrinology department of the Perpignan hospital. Until then, the only patients to benefit from this device participated in clinical trials. It is a small external box that automatically delivers insulin to the diabetic patient.
For now, this device is only suitable for patients with type 1. This disease is characterized by a high level of sugar – or glucose – in the blood, hyperglycemia. It is due to a deficiency of insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas and which regulates blood sugar levels. As the pancreas of these patients is dysfunctional, it no longer produces enough insulin and the sugar level is therefore abnormally high. This type of diabetes cannot be cured, but patients can live with it through daily intakes of exogenous insulin. Hence the interest of this artificial pancreas.
An artificial pancreas that calculates the sugar level and the dose of insulin to be delivered
The advantage of this device is to calculate automatically and in real time the dose of insulin that the patient needs. Indeed, it is the glucose sensor, installed on the skin, which will continuously measure the patient’s glucose level. It will then transmit this information to the smart pump of the artificial pancreas, using a Bluetooth system. The box will then calculate on its own the dose of insulin to be delivered to the patient to maintain a good level of his blood sugar level. Diabetics no longer need to measure their blood sugar and determine how much insulin to administer, the device does it all! Its only task is, at mealtimes, to indicate the food ingested by indicating the amount of carbohydrates it contains. This artificial pancreas therefore reduces the mental workload of patients, improves their quality of life and, above all, allows a much better glycemic balance because it is estimated and supplied with insulin in real time.
The artificial pancreas could be marketed in 2021
Outside of clinical trials, this is the first time that such a process has been used on patients. Currently, the devices offered to diabetics require a lot of effort from them: measuring their blood sugar levels and determining the dose of insulin to be delivered. Even if the patients are very rigorous, many of them still suffer from very strong variations in their sugar level, accompanied by hyper or hypoglycaemia. For now, this artificial pancreas is still being approved by the High Authority for Health. If validated, it should be offered to the general public from next year.
.
