Diabetes Breakthrough? (Implantable chip promises no more needles for diabetics.)

Fox News.com ^ | 12 Dec, 2007 | Dr Manny Alverez

[Bottom_Gun]

Implantable chip promises no more needles for diabetics. Could this be the future of diabetes management? Video available at the source.

[Bottom_Gun]

This would be a great help to those of us who have to stick ourselves 6 to 8 times a day for a blood sample. After this I can see the next step will be someone ganging this with an Insulin pump, and bang..artificial Pancreas! Now if they just come out with pre-filled Insulin vials for my pump I'd be in heaven *L*

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I recently read where Type II diabetics who went through stomach surgery miraculously saw their pancreas come back in proper operation and were no longer diabetic.

[righttackle44]

Actually, my doctor says that the next step could well be a diabetes patch that would require no needles at all.

That would make a lot of people very happy. As for me, I’m still on medication, so I haven’t faced the daily need angst that many diabetes have to endure. God bless us with new treatments and eventual cure.

[r9etb]

Related article. They've got a design, but no hardware or testing. It's years from now, if it works at all.

[Bottom_Gun]

I don’t know..in the video they show them putting the chip in and reading it with a meter that looks like an old huge calculator. They’re talking testing to start and hoping to be to market in 3 yrs. The only bad thing is a sensor will only last 6 months. But an implant every 6 months is better than 6 to 8 finger sticks a day!

[r9etb]

I'd be thrilled if they can get this working -- my son hasn't had good luck with the current sensors, and he ends up probably doing more finger pricks when he has one in, than when he doesn't.... go figure.

The problem, as always, is calibration -- meaning, you're probably never going to do away with the finger sticks.

Also, the software for the current sensors seems to be pretty inadequate for the "artificial pancreas" application -- it doesn't respond well to transients, for example. We've had lots of false "going low" or "going high" alarms, and thus haven't been using the sensors for a while now.

[Wonder Warthog]

Probability of success is very low. Getting a sensor to transmit data over an RFID link is easy. Getting a sensor to work in the hostile environment that is the body and yield accurate readings over a long period of time is HARD, HARD, HARD. Lots of very smart folks have been working on this for a very long time. Thus far, nothing has succeeded.

[Bottom_Gun]

very true..all systems would attack it as a hostile. Maybe that’s why they’re saying the RFID chip will need to be replaces every 6 months?

[norraad]

..in the meantime 500mg or 1 gram Cinnamon capsules help regulate blood sugar.

[Bottom_Gun]

I know how your son feels, I go through a lot of that myself. The pump I’m using now, the Cozmore system, has some nice built in features.
I’m partial to the Extended Meal Bolus one where it releases the insulin over a 2 hr period instead of all at once. It’s great for holiday and “grazing” or with something like Pizza that stays in your system a bit longer, past the initial meal bump, and keeps you from getting an artificial high reading after the meal.

[najida]

That’s good info to know....thanks!

[Bottom_Gun]

I saw that too,But I’m not over weight enough to need that surgery I’m maybe 20 lbs over what I normally weigh. I’ve also converted from a Type II to a Type I and on an Insulin pump now. Hopefully that surgery can help a few people though!

[trisham]

bump!

[TC Rider]

I work for a venture capitalist that has invested heavily in this technology. It is totally non-invasive.

The technology does work, but now they are working to miniturize a briefcase full of electronics to something the size of a watch.

[Calvin Locke]

In the early 1990s, they were hyping an in development plastic tube the diameter of paperclip wire, an inch long, that would contain pancreatic cells, and implanted under the skin.

The plastic would allow the cells to live, and react to blood sugar levels, but prevent the immune system from knowing about the foreign cells.

Except for that one article, I never heard another thing about it.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I’m taking the cinnamon, too.

[VirginiaConstitutionalist]

So what will Wilford Brimley have shipped to my house now? Did anyone think of Wilford Brimley?

[tob2]

I have heard that also. But, as you probably know, many people who have this surgery regain a lot of the weight taken off by this surgery. Wonder how the pancreas reacts to that.

[Lx]

Remember the Norplant male birth control implant? When men wanted them removed, they had migrated to a different site. I wonder if these will too. Great idea though, I know a couple of type 1 and 2 and it sucks to be a type 2 let alone a type 1.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I don’t have a weight issue so its unlikely anyone would want to cut me open. I do recall that there was evidence that the surgery disrupted some enzymes in the gut, which didn't seem related to pancreatic activities.
Guess there is a lot to learn yet, even in modern science...