Devices for the control of diabetes mellitus

New devices are being developed for continuous insulin infusion in diabetes mellitus. Of these the bedside closed-loop system (artificial β-cell) normalizes measured blood glucose in the fasting and fed states, while favorably altering other fuel substrates and hormone levels in short-term studies of one to two days. More recent portable external open-loop insulin delivery devices have been developed which can be programmed to achieve similar results in long-term studies on animals (up to 400 days, and on humans up to 30 days). This is accomplished without the need for continuous glucose sensing. The metabolic normalization achieved is not compromised by physical exercise and unacceptably low blood glucose levels are not observed. Further development and application of these new devices will enable researchers to establish whether the achievement of ideal control of blood glucose in diabetes will in any way alter the cougse of the complications of the disease.