To help people with type-1 diabetes who need to take insulin regularly to avoid low blood sugar (hypoglycaemia) or high blood sugar (hyperglycaemia), a team of researchers has developed an artificial pancreas system that can monitor and control blood sugar levels in real time.
Bengaluru: To help people with type-1 diabetes who need to take insulin regularly to avoid low blood sugar (hypoglycaemia) or high blood sugar (hyperglycaemia), a team of researchers has developed an artificial pancreas system that can monitor and control blood sugar levels in real-time.
Type-1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder in which insulin-producing cells in the pancreas are attacked and destroyed by the body’s immune cells.
The research by the team from the Robert Bosch Centre for Cyber-Physical Systems of the Indian Institute of Science, jointly with doctors at MS Ramaiah Medical College, is significant given that at least 74 million people in India have diabetes as per the International Diabetes Federation’s Diabetes Atlas (2021). It is estimated that this number would grow to 125 million by 2045. IISc researchers pointed out that prolonged hyperglycaemia can cause conditions like retinopathy, neuropathy and nephropathy, while severe hypoglycaemia can lead to loss of consciousness, coma, and in extreme cases, death.
The Artificial Pancreas (AP) setup was developed by Radhakant Padhi, professor, the department of aerospace engineering and Robert Bosch Centre for Cyber-Physical Systems, and his team mimics the body’s closed loop system that regulates insulin production.
The system has three parts: A sensor, an insulin pump, and an Android app. “…The sensor is a small coin-like device with a tiny needle-like extension that can be stuck onto the skin similar to a patch or band-aid. It monitors glucose concentration in the subcutaneous tissue continuously. The sensor is connected to an insulin pump that can infuse insulin under the skin. The pump is a small rectangular device, similar to a cassette, that can be carried around in a pocket. The Android app determines how much insulin needs to be pumped into the body and can be downloaded on any mobile device to control the sensor and the pump,” IISc said.
The key component of the app is the Model Predictive Control (MPC) — a powerful algorithm that has been proven to be a good candidate for AP systems, according to researchers. “It predicts how much insulin is required based on the sensor’s data and sends the signal to the insulin pump. This predictive nature makes MPC a good algorithm for the AP system since blood glucose levels of type-1 patients need to be continuously regulated,” they said.
In a pilot study, the researchers tested their AP system on 10 type-1 diabetic patients at MS Ramaiah Medical College between January and March 2022 after obtaining clearance from the ethics committee and obtaining informed consent from the patients. “Out of the 10 subjects, four were successful where blood glucose was within normal ranges throughout the trial. Three out of the remaining six were partially successful but were abandoned halfway primarily due to hardware issues,” IISc added.
The researchers plan to make the AP system fully automated to work 24×7, as the current one operates over only one meal cycle in a day.
“This includes operations that will monitor insulin levels continuously, using AI-based techniques to improve the app algorithm, and developing another app through which caregivers can monitor the patient. Our objective is to customise it for Indian patients and make it cost-effective,” Padhi said, adding that the team is collaborating with Amrita University to develop a cost-effective insulin pump.
Facebook Twitter
