Arizona Gibbes pricks her finger several times a day. She tests her blood. She may inject herself with a hormone called insulin. The insulin balances her body’s blood sugar.
Arizona has Type 1 diabetes. Almost two million people in the United States alone have the disease. Though diabetes is incurable, an experimental device is giving hope to some diabetics.
A healthy pancreas produces insulin. Insulin helps the body convert food into energy.
Diabetes destroys insulin-producing cells. This causes sugar to build up in the blood. The buildup can damage eyes, kidneys, heart, nerves, and blood vessels.
Diabetics must closely monitor their disease. They watch what they eat and self-inject the hormones their bodies don’t produce.
Engineer Ed Damiano began working on a “bionic pancreas” after doctors diagnosed his son with Type 1 diabetes. He hopes the device will improve Type 1 diabetes monitoring. Damiano’s goal is government approval for his invention by 2017. That’s the year his son will enter college.
The bionic pancreas has three parts. There are two cell-phone-sized pumps—one for sugar-lowering insulin and one for sugar-raising glucagon. The third device is an iPhone. An app on the iPhone tells the pumps how much insulin or glucagon to dispense. The diabetic also wears three small needles under the skin. Wires from the needles connect to the pumps and the iPhone.
Patients using the bionic pancreas still need to test their blood sugar twice a day. This ensures the electronic organ is doing its job.
There is much work to be done before the bionic pancreas is widely available. But early studies are promising. Compared to an insulin pump, the bionic pancreas improves blood sugar levels in users overall. Researchers now want to combine the system into a single device.
No one is promised a long life with no challenges. But for Arizona and others with diabetes, a bionic organ may help them enjoy the life they have even more.
