| |
|
 |
|
| |
| |
|
Intelligent Therapy |
| |
|
New software
could provide guidance to
Type 1 diabetics |
Illustration Credit: Christina Ullman, Ullman Design |
| |
Monday
Oct 08, 2007
by DWAYNE STEWARD |
| |
| New
efforts by a computer scientist and an
endocrinologist to design artificial intelligence
software to manage insulin pump therapy could make
life easier for patients with type 1 diabetes — and
their doctors. |
| |
|
Dr. Frank Schwartz, an
associate professor of endocrinology and director of
the Appalachian Rural Health Institute’s
Diabetes/Endocrine Center, is working with Cynthia
Marling, an associate professor of electrical
engineering and computer science, to create the
smarter pump therapy. |
| |
|
|
The technology (U.S.
patent pending), used in conjunction with newer
glucose monitoring systems, will help patients
manage their glucose, or blood sugar, levels. It
will monitor daily glucose trends, remember previous
patterns, and examine daily lifestyle information to
make suggestions to physicians about what patients
can do to maintain good glucose control. |
| |
|
|
The most advanced
insulin pumps currently available have glucose
sensors that measure the glucose level continuously,
which is a tremendous advance over previous
technology. However, they do not adjust insulin
levels automatically or make suggestions to help
people with diabetes. The patient or physician must
determine what adjustments in insulin pump doses
should be made to correct any problems. |
| |
|
|
In the Ohio University
study, five graduate research assistants shadowed
Dr. Schwartz and Dr. Jay Shubrook, an Ohio
University assistant professor in family medicine
and trained diabetologist, as they identified and
diagnosed problems with their patients. |
| |
|
|
Patients documented
every detail of their treatment in an online
database for six weeks. The physicians reviewed the
data for each patient and then suggested an
individualized course of action. The program is
being taught to recognize common patterns of glucose
problems (either too high or too low) as well as
possible solutions for these problems. |
| |
|
|
“For example, if
someone’s glucose levels are high at night, Dr.
Schwartz may tell them they need to increase their
pump basal rates of insulin infusion,” Marling says. |
| |
|
|
If the recommendation
works, it is plugged into the computer program as a
solution to a specific problem. |
| |
|
|
“We’ve identified 50
problems and solutions by working with 20 patients
so far,” she says. “If we study 50 patients, we’d
have a practical tool we could let patients use.” |
| |
|
|
In the future, this type
of artificial intelligence will help patients
identify problems and offer treatment suggestions
without physician intervention, says Marling, who
previously developed artificial intelligence
software for physicians who treat patients with
Alzheimer’s disease. |
| |
|
|
The project receives
funding from the Ohio University College of
Osteopathic Medicine, the Russ College of
Engineering and Technology, and Medtronic MiniMed,
an insulin pump manufacturer, which provided $5,000
in equipment. |
| |
|
|
“We’re also in the
process of registering the patent for this software
and meeting with the insulin pump companies in hopes
of forming a collaborative partnership with one of
them,” Schwartz says. |
| |
|
|
This would not only
bring in the private funding needed to continue the
research, he says, but would put the technology in
the hands of a national manufacturer that would help
it reach more patients. |
| |
|
|
This
story appears in the
Autumn/Winter 2007 issue of
Perspectives magazine. |
| |
|
| |
|
