AN ARTIFICIAL pancreas that continuously monitors blood sugar levels and provides insulin automatically could free children with diabetes from their reliance on blood tests and injections.

About 350,000 Britons have type 1 diabetes, which usually emerges in childhood or young adulthood. Sufferers have to monitor their blood sugar levels by means of regular finger-prick blood tests and inject insulin accordingly.

The new device uses a computer to monitor the patient’s blood sugar levels and administers insulin when levels rise too high. By delivering the correct amount of insulin as soon as it is needed, it should reduce long-term complications such as blindness, loss of sensation and ulceration of the feet, which can lead to amputation.

Clinical trials will start in January. Scientists at Cambridge University, led by Roman Hovorka at the Department of Paediatrics, will use monitors that measure blood glucose. These will be connected wirelessly to a computer that controls an insulin pump worn on the patient’s belt. The key is the computer programme, which works out the precise dose of insulin needed.

In type 1 diabetes, the islet cells of the pancreas are killed by the immune system, and the pancreas cannot produce insulin, which is needed to control blood-sugar levels. The condition can be roughly corrected by regular insulin injections throughout the day, but night-time control can be difficult.

David Dunger, a member of the Cambridge team, said: “Getting the computer algorithm right will be the big job. There is a high risk of glucose levels going low at night. This really frightens parents and patients.”

The project has received a £500,000 grant from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Karen Addington, its chief executive, said: “Achieving good blood-glucose control dramatically lowers the risk of serious complications, by as much as 75 per cent for some problems.”

In the first stage of the trial, 12 children aged between 5 and 18 will be fitted with a glucose monitor. Once they are used to it they will spend a night in hospital with the insulin pump fitted. A nurse will watch the glucose monitor and adjust it accordingly. On a second night in hospital the system will be controlled by a computer, programmed with information from the previous stay.

For night use, the computer need not be portable. But ultimately a hand-held computer might mean that the system could also be used to control glucose levels during the day.

Cara Dartnell-Steinberg, 7, from Hampstead, North London, received a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes when she was six. She gets her insulin through a pump and says that she often feels like the “odd man out” among her friends.

When she has a biscuit at breaktime, she has to remember to give herself an extra dose of insulin to cover the sugar.

“Sometimes I get a fruit pastille, which is nice, to get my blood sugar up, but mostly all this testing just interrupts my work, so I have to finish it off at home.”

Explore Health News

• Swine flu

Times Recommends

• Milk: do we need a dairy godmother?
• DIY: the women doing it for themselves
• First double portrait of Princes unveiled