NEWS
Insulin alert
Wireless body monitoring system aims to predict diabetics’ blood glucose levels in advance
DIABETICS COULD reduce the
amount of insulin they take with
the help of a new wireless body
monitoring system that aims to
predict blood glucose levels
several hours ahead.
The technology is the intended
result of a four-year £6m EU project
co-ordinated by diabetes care
company Novo Nordisk.
The Personal Glucose Predictive
Diabetes Advisor (DIAdvisor)
will be based on existing wireless
body monitoring technology from
Oxfordshire-based project partner
Toumaz Technology.
Small, unobtrusive wireless
sensors, packed with a low-power
silicon chip, will stick to the body of
diabetics like a plaster to monitor
vital signs such as ECG, temperature,
blood pressure and blood
glucose and oxygen levels. Similar
sensors will use three-axis
accelerometers to measure the
amount of energy patients exert.
The system will wirelessly transmit
data to a hand-held mobile
device such as a Personal Data
Assistant (PDA). This will then be
merged with manually entered
information, such as food intake.
An advanced algorithm will then
analyse and convert the data to
predict blood glucose levels. This,
said the developers, will give
patients advice, within minutes, on
the amount of insulin to take for
their next dose.
Keith Errey, Toumaz chief executive
and co-founder, said current
diabetes management techniques
have almost no ability to predict
what blood glucose levels might be
in several hours.
‘What diabetics face now is a
real problem,’ he said. ‘If they prick
their finger and measure their blood
glucose, they’re measuring the
history of what it has been up to
that point.
‘Therefore they must make
assumptions about how much
insulin they need to take to return to
stable blood glucose level.’
The technology is hoped to
obviate the risk of fainting spells
12
Blood glucose is currently measured by pricking a finger, but this only indicates what it has been up to that point
diabetics run if their blood
sugar drops dramatically — and
many prefer to take higher doses
of insulin than necessary to
negate this, with potentially
damaging consequences.
‘Patients with excessively high
blood glucose levels are fine in the
short term, but maintaining conditions
like this for years can have
long-term problems such as
damage to the eyes, heart and
liver,’ said Errey.
Toumaz has already developed
wireless body sensors that
measure vital signs such as ECG,
temperature and blood glucose and
oxygen levels. Its product,
Sensium, featured in The Engineer
two years ago, is scheduled for
commercialisation later this year.
While Toumaz’s technology lays
the foundation for DIAdvisor, there
are still many challenges the
consortium faces.
Errey said the project collaborators
are unsure about which
combination of vital signs will
provide the information they
need for their blood glucose predicting
algorithms.
To determine this, the teams
will employ the services of a group
of volunteer diabetics at a French
hospital.
The researchers will gather vital
signs from each patient and create
initial physiological modelling and
prediction algorithms.
A second round of clinical trials
will take place in two years where
the algorithms will be run in realtime
and the predictability models
will be tested.
If all goes according to plan,
Errey said the consortium could
have a technology ready for market
within four years. However, he
added that the project only funds
research on technology, not product
development.
He said the need for this type of
technology is becoming more and
more apparent, noting that demographic
trends such as increasing
obesity, ageing population and
increasingly sedentary lifestyles
have led to an explosion in
diabetes. In the EU, average diabetes
prevalence rates are now at
7.5 per cent, with a predicted
growth to 16 per cent by 2025.
The consortium estimates the
annual global market for medical
devices for diabetics is over £4bn.
Dr Alison Burdett, Toumaz
director of technology, claimed
DIAdvisor will represent a significant
step forward in diabetes care.
‘With this device, we will be
putting a sophisticated treatment
adviser in the hands of patients for
the first time, empowering
them with their own healthcare
management and significantly
reducing the likelihood of serious
complications and recurrent
hospitalisation due to poor glucose
control,’ she said.
‘For healthcare providers, this
will have a significant positive
impact on cost reduction for the
treatment of diabetes.’
Siobhan Wagner
the EnGIneeR 21 APRIL–4 MAY 2008
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