FRIDAY, Dec. 26, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- It's a computerized pump that does the math for people with diabetes so they don't have to guess how much insulin they need.
And it introduces the latest technology to the difficult area of insulin management, health experts say.
The Paradigm 512 insulin pump, approved this past summer by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is the newest and most advanced of approximately half a dozen pumps on the market, doctors say. These pumps automatically release insulin into a person's body through a needle placed under the skin, and they're becoming a welcome alternative to injecting insulin up to eight times a day.
"Insulin pumps in general are far and away the best way to manage diabetes, and this pump takes it to the ultimate level of technology," says Dr. Daniel Einhorn, medical director at Scripps Whittier Institute for Diabetes in La Jolla, Calif. He uses the pump with about half his patients.
People with diabetes who need insulin every day must first measure the glucose level in their blood, usually by pricking their finger, and then figure out how much insulin they need to keep their blood sugar levels at healthy levels. They then have to inject themselves with the appropriate amount of insulin.
An insulin pump saves people from injecting themselves on a daily basis. But until now those with diabetes had to figure out how much insulin the pump should release at a given time.
The new pump, manufactured by Medtronic MiniMed, takes care of the calculation, which Einhorn says both improves the accuracy of the amount of insulin given and makes it more convenient for the user. The pump is the size of a beeper and can be worn on a belt. It is attached by a small tube to a thin needle that is placed under the skin, usually on the stomach, where the insulin is released. The pump also comes with a remote card that lets a person program it more easily.
"The new pump is easy and logical to program and easier to troubleshoot and fix by yourself, and can give the insulin in a quick burst or over a long period of time," he says. "It saves time and makes it easy to manage."
Approximately 17 million people, or 6.2 percent of Americans, suffer from diabetes, although almost 6 million of those people are undiagnosed, according to the National Diabetes Information Clearing House. Five percent to 10 percent of diabetics suffer from type 1 diabetes, which occurs when the body makes no insulin. The remainder have type 2 diabetes, which is when the body's cells can't use insulin properly.
Insulin, a hormone, is needed to carry glucose -- the form of sugar in the blood and the main source of fuel for the body -- to cells.
All type 1 diabetics need insulin on a daily basis, while only some of type 2 diabetics must have insulin injected regularly, says Jerry Meece, a diabetes educator who teaches diabetics self-management.
"Pumps do a great job of delivering insulin," he adds, "but only a small number of people use them."
He cites the cost of pumps -- about $5,000 -- and people's reluctance to use the technology as a few of the reasons more pumps aren't used.
Meece says the Paradigm 512 pump represents a step toward the ultimate goal in diabetes management, which would include an automatic glucose monitor embedded in the skin that would assess the body's insulin needs. This monitor would be connected to an automatic pump, which would release insulin as needed. He says this technology is probably about four or five years down the road.
"It would be a closed system, almost an artificial pancreas, and is the Holy Grail for diabetes management," he says.
Dr. Robert Rapaport is director of pediatric endocrinology and diabetes at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. He says the new pump is a "good advance and clearly the wave of the future." But he uses it only for a select group of patients who are comfortable with the technology.
"It's excellent for certain patients who are into technology and who like gadgets, like teenagers," says Rapaport, who treats a lot of children. "It's very consumer-friendly."
More information
The National Diabetes Education Program offers information on diabetes. A simple explanation of diabetes can be found at the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse.
