Artificial pancreas learns your behavior and regulates insulin through a smartphone

Last year the FDA approved the first artificial pancreas for general use. The technology is designed to automatically monitor and inject insulin as needed, in patients with type 1 diabetes. Now a team at Harvard has developed an even more sophisticated system that connects to a patient's smartphone and learns their habits, enabling glucose levels to be kept within a certain healthy range. 

Previous treatments for type 1 diabetes have generally involved a patient monitoring their blood glucose levels and then manually triggering an insulin pump at certain times when readings are too high. These insulin pumps can also be triggered to inject insulin when a patient eats a meal.

Artificial pancreas systems combine these two processes into what is called a "closed-loop" system. A glucose monitor is placed under the patient's skin, alongside the insulin pump, allowing the device to independently control glucose levels.

Several clinical trials have shown these artificial pancreas systems to be very successful in maintaining a patient's glucose levels. Removing the need for a patient to be constantly monitoring their own blood sugar is also a major plus. The system still needs to go through more trials before it reaches the general public, but this kind of adaptive artificial pancreas looks set to make the lives of those suffering from type 1 diabetes significantly easier.