The phone app that could end daily needles to treat diabetes

A mum who has diabetes has spoken about how new technology that keeps her glucose levels stable has made a huge difference to her life.

A Victorian mum who was patient zero in a world-first trial that used an app to act as her artificial pancreas has spoken of how she believes it saved her life.

Lawyer and mum of two Siba Diqer, 40, said it also took away the stress of living with type 1 diabetes.

The artificial pancreas is a mobile phone app that “talks” to a patient’s insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor and then adjusts doses of insulin as needed in real time.

“It’s like having a functioning pancreas and it has significantly reduced my risk of complications from type 1 diabetes,” Ms Diqer said.

These can include blindness, heart disease, nerve and kidney damage and pregnancy complications.

Patient zero on the artificial pancreas trial, lawyer Siba Diqer. Image: Baker Institute.

It was Ms Diqer’s second pregnancy four years ago that lead to her developing type 1 diabetes and almost cost not only her life, but that of her newborn son who was born via emergency caesarean.

“I have been insulin-dependent ever since,” she said. “This app has been life changing for me to have as it keeps me stable. It is constantly running and you feel safe knowing it talks to my continuous glucose monitor, it does it all on its own and I don’t have to think about it.”

Called an AndroidAPS system, for the first time it has been trialled by the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute in a major study with collaborators in New Zealand.

Lead researcher Professor Neale Cohen said it was found to accurately administer insulin frequently and adjust the dose as needed based on a patient’s glucose levels.

He said it was an exciting result as this was the first study to show acceptable glucose control with automated management of type 1 diabetes.

This is a condition that affects around 134,000 Australians, nine million people worldwide.

The technology operates from an android smartphone and uses an algorithm to communicate with insulin pumps and glucose monitors.

Professor Cohen, a diabetes clinician and researcher, said from that information - even when people are asleep – it can detect if glucose level needs to be adjusted and will tell the pump to give a dose.

Professor Neale Cohen led the trial of the artificial pancreas and says it will change the lives of people living with type 1 diabetes.

On Thursday he presented the results at an international diabetes conference in Amsterdam.

The team is now running a 12-month extension of the trials and will look to commercialise the system to make it more widely available.

“This closed-loop system, or artificial pancreas, is the holy grail,” Professor Cohen said. “We call it a pancreas because it is acting like a pancreas as it receives glucose information and adjusts insulin levels.”

Until now people with type 1 diabetes have had to self-manage the complex interplay of lifestyle, diet and insulin dosing.

The Baker Institute said many people needed to make over 100 decisions a day to stay within range with their blood sugar and improve glycaemic control.

This includes time-consuming carb-counting as eating too much carbohydrate at one time can cause blood glucose levels to rise or spike after a meal.

“This app removes the need for people to make all those decisions,” Professor Cohen said. “It will change the lives of people with type 1 diabetes.”

He said access to technology will be the next big thing in type 1 diabetes.

“For those patients struggling with multiple daily injections, closed loop technology is superior and should be considered and made available,” Professor Cohen said.