Patients with type 1 diabetes will be able to better control their disease in the future thanks to a new artificial pancreas that uses a computerized algorithm to balance sugar levels in the body.
In type 1 diabetes, the pancreas stops making enough insulin , a hormone that lowers sugar levels , and also stops releasing enough glucagon , which raises blood sugar levels . The new artificial pancreas, developed by biochemists at Boston University and Massachusetts General Hospital (USA), solves this problem almost as a healthy organ would. Its mechanism is made up of a continuous blood sugar monitor, two jets that inject both hormones under the skin, and a laptop, which runs a program capable of calculating the level of hormones the patient needs at any given time.
As described by its creators in a study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine , although it is not yet a definitive cure, the new technology represents a radical shift in the treatment of this chronic disease , which affects some 285 million people throughout the world. world.
