Artificial pancreas, better control of glucose levels.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-10-artificial-pancreas-blood-glucose-current.html

I guess there is a permanent hole for a tube because if it was implantable how would you resupply insulin?

So it looks like a real improvement for kids, type 1 diabetes because it monitors glucose 24/7 and type 1 kids have very low levels at night which can be dangerous.

@sonhouse said
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-10-artificial-pancreas-blood-glucose-current.html

I guess there is a permanent hole for a tube because if it was implantable how would you resupply insulin?

So it looks like a real improvement for kids, type 1 diabetes because it monitors glucose 24/7 and type 1 kids have very low levels at night which can be dangerous.

There are a lot of hopeful solutions coming down the pipe.

@sonhouse said
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-10-artificial-pancreas-blood-glucose-current.html

I guess there is a permanent hole for a tube because if it was implantable how would you resupply insulin?

So it looks like a real improvement for kids, type 1 diabetes because it monitors glucose 24/7 and type 1 kids have very low levels at night which can be dangerous.

This is only the newest in a line of products.

Tandem has been a leader for years in insulin pump technology (my pump is a Tandem), and Dexcom has been a leader for years in CGM (continuous glucose monitors). The dream has been to join the two technologies together, producing a system that not only monitors glucose continuously, but then sends data to a pump, which sends the proper amount of insulin. This has been called "artificial pancreas" technology, because the pancreas does both these functions in the human body, detecting sugar levels and dispensing insulin to match.

These little boxes are connected to the body via tubing (very fine tubing) which dispenses the insulin from a cartridge in the main body of the pump. The interface with the human body is called an infusion set, with a needle that infuses the insulin into the subcutaneous fat layer.

Tandem and Dexcom have joined together to create Tandem's latest X2 technology, combining the pump with the monitor. Last I heard they were still working on an automatic interface between the two.

My pump is just a pump, I do not use a CGM, because it requires a separate sensor, and I find the two inputs to my body just too unwieldy. I just use a blood glucose monitor using test strips (currently I use the One-Touch Verio.)

And no, "artificial pancreas" is just a term for the tech, it is not "implantable" yet.

@suzianne said
This is only the newest in a line of products.

Tandem has been a leader for years in insulin pump technology (my pump is a Tandem), and Dexcom has been a leader for years in CGM (continuous glucose monitors). The dream has been to join the two technologies together, producing a system that not only monitors glucose continuously, but then sends data to a pump, which sends ...[text shortened]... h Verio.)

And no, "artificial pancreas" is just a term for the tech, it is not "implantable" yet.

Our daughter has a pump now, that alone was life changing from all the shots she used to take. We have only had one experience where the needle bent when she was doing a site change and she ended up in the hospital. Beyond that night and day.

We have read a little about pancreas' coming back into working order, islet cell transplant I'm prayerful something gets done to fix this!

@Suzianne
The article said it was mainly for type 1. Is that what you have? I was listening to XM, "Doctor'' channel and they were talking about diabetes in general and mentioned a good percentage of folks with diabetes starting at year 10 may start to have vision problems due to enlarged blood vessels in the eyeball, controlled with drugs or direct injections.
Have you gotten to that stage yet? My wife Susan has had it for about 5 years now and I guess we don't have to worry just yet.
So do you have type 1 or type 2?
Susan has 2. I heard 1 was mainly caught by youngsters.
BTW, up to 113 tracks on SC now, latest tune, 'Kitten on the Jammies' with a picture of one of my granddaughters with our kitten on her tummy, of course in jammies😉