JDRF: Level 4, 80-84 Chandos Street, St Leonards NSW 2065 Tel 02 9966 0400 Fax 02 9966 0172 WWW www.jdrf.org.au
Media Release
EMBARGOED UNTIL
11am 5th FEBRUARY 2010
“Artificial pancreas” protects diabetic kids from overnight coma
Groundbreaking new research shows that a new automated diabetes management system
dramatically reduces the risk of deadly hypoglycemia and maintains healthy glucose level.
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation researchers have made a significant step towards allowing people
with diabetes to maintain a healthy blood glucose level.
Published today in The Lancet, researchers have completed a trial of an automated management system
that can predict and prevent blood sugar fluctuations.
The system combined a widely available insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor with a computer
program to calculate the appropriate amount of insulin required in different circumstances. It was fitted to
children with type 1 diabetes who were kept overnight at hospital for monitoring.
Results showed that children using the system spent twice as much time in a healthy blood sugar range
and were less likely to have dangerous blood glucose fluctuations.
This is a significant improvement on current management practices and will ideally be moved into wider
clinical testing in the home environment.
Background information
Insulin-dependant diabetics rely on a
daily balancing act of calculating the right amount of insulin and blood glucose
they need to survive. Too little blood sugar and they risk slipping into coma or seizures. Too much and they face
lifelong health complications such as blindness, heart and kidney failure.
Dramatic blood sugar drops, or hypoglycemia, have immediate and often devastating consequences and have an
enormous impact on the 140,000 Australians and their families living with type 1 diabetes.
“Without a doubt, the biggest worry for parents of kids with type 1 diabetes is that their child will have a
dangerous low blood sugar emergency during the night,”
says Australian endocrinologist and hypoglycemia
specialist Professor Tim Jones. “Research has also shown that major fluctuations in blood sugar can also have a
significant impact on the cognitive, psychological and behavioural development of children with type 1 diabetes.”
Commenting on the research, JDRF Research Manager Dr Dorota Pawlak says “An automated diabetes management
system, or artificial pancreas, is the Holy Grail for people living with type 1 diabetes.”
“While an artificial pancreas isn’t a cure, it will help to significantly reduce serious diabetic health complications whilst
also reducing the burden on individuals and families that live with the constant fear of blood sugar fluctuations.”
For more information or interviews please contact Gayle McNaught on 0401625905.
NEWS 
