Robotic Pancreas

So I don’t know if this was posted here before, if it was sorry for the repost, My dad just sent me this article about…well here: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/04/ff_pancreas/

It’s much better to read than me trying to explain it. But to give a summary, this guy spent years developing and testing an automatic pump that would work by having a sensor implanted in your body that monitors your blood sugar and distributes insulin automatically. It’s specifically for Type 1’s and all the clinical trials have seen some promising results in eliminating hypos. Only trouble is the FDA has yet to approve something like this, but people keep pushing for it.

So, if something like became available on the market, would you immediately go out and buy one? Or would you feel a little wary about letting a computer handle such a life and death situation?

Personally, I love this idea, and though I’ve only been type 1 for a month and a half, I see it is a constant battle for control. Having something like this where I wouldn’t have to worry about it would make my life so much easier.

What are your thoughts?

I’m not convinced an artificial pancreas will be able to beat an aggressive ‘manual’ pumper with a pump and CGM because the goals of the medical industry for us aren’t “normalization” as much as “stabilization”. I volunteer to beat the hell out of the dude’s robot.