PressTV... A new study shows artificial pancreas could help control glucose levels in patients with Type 1 diabetes better than the conventional treatment, which involves an insulin pump.
The study, performed on 30 adults and adolescent patients with Type 1 diabetes, showed that the external artificial pancreas is significantly better than the conventional insulin pump therapy for sugar control.
The artificial pancreas is an automated system that simulates the normal pancreas to adapt body insulin levels through the automatic administration of one or two hormones.
The investigators also found that the patients experienced fewer incidents of the dangerous condition of hypoglycemia when artificial pancreas was used, compared with when the insulin pump treatment was used.
"I think what we can say is that the artificial pancreas is definitely better than the conventional insulin pump," Dr. Betul Hatipoglu, an endocrinologist at Cleveland Clinic said, adding, "There is no question about it."
The study was conducted by researchers at the Clinical Research Institute of Montreal and the University of Montreal. The findings were published in the Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal.
Type I diabetes is a disease where the body either can't produce, the hormone needed to convert glucose from food into energy for cells.
Untreated, diabetes leads to high levels of glucose in the blood, which causes serious damage to organs in the long run, including vision loss and kidney failure.
Type I diabetes is typically diagnosed in younger individuals.
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