Is a "closed-loop" CGM and Pump a Cure?

[Sarah Maddie's Mom]

Ok - maybe I'm a bit slow on the uptake, but it seems to me that the powers that be have proclaimed a "closed-loop" system to be a "cure" for D. What do you think?

[emm142]

I think it would be wonderful and amazing. But no, I don't think it's a cure. A cure isn't having pieces of machinery attached to me every day and night... JMO.

[CC'sMom]

Definitely not a cure. And honestly with all the issues we've had in the past withe the Dexcom, it would take me a long, long time to trust it and to be comfortable with it.

[hawkeyegirl]

No, not a cure, but a huge, huge, huge improvement on current treatment.

[buggle]

You still would have to fill insulin cartridges, poke your kid with an infusion set and deal with tape -- hopefully they won't have tubing to deal with. You'd have to insert a sensor and connect to a transmitter or whatever communication device they end up using.

And as long as insulin is injected just under the skin and glucose is measured just under the skin, you'll still have a lag in both -- lag in time for to insulin to start working, just like now. And a lag in how long it takes the glucose to reflect what's in the blood to use that feedback between the two.

In healthy bodies, insulin works within a few minutes when it's released right into the portal vein. So the feedback is immediate. You just can't replicate that with with a closed loop pump/CGM. I'm sure the algorithms will get better and better so that the interface becomes more trustworthy, but it'll never be perfect and will likely require calibrations.

And there will always be equipment failures and issues.

I have no idea why they call it a cure other than hyping it for marketing and trying to raise funds for development. It's just a better version of what we have now.

[danismom79]

No. My baby would still have diabetes.

[hypercarmona]

No. Cure means I don't have to ever do anything related to diabetes ever again. An artificial pancreas is just one more expensive, on going "treatment" of the symptoms of diabetes, not a cure. Personally, I think that there are other avenues of research that are more promising and that aggressively searching for an artificial pancreas to make living with diabetes more comfortable is not a good use of time and expense. But that's just me. I'm not crazy of making meters pink, green, or tiny when they could work on how inaccurate they are, either. I'm not saying that it wouldn't be an improvement on what we have now, but it shouldn't be the ultimate goal, which many seem to be saying it is.

[saxmaniac]

Heck no.

By this sense we could "cure" polio just by attaching little motors to people's arms. Look ma, no more symptoms! Ima cured!

[joy orz]

Absolutely not a cure. I just saw that poll and was going to write the same thing. I'm a little peeved by the idea to be honest.

Kinda like saying insulin is a cure.

[Flutterby]

absolutely NOT.. its another bandaid, more technology, its not a cure. A cure means our kids would have a functioning pancreas like everyone else.