According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), diabetes is one of the top ten leading causes of death in the United States (Basics about Diabetes, 2015). To put that number in perspective, every three minutes one person dies from complications of diabetes (What is Diabetes, 2014). Serious complications such as kidney failure, blindness, heart disease, and lower-extremity amputations face every diabetic (Basics et al., 2015). Right now about 380 million people have diabetes and the World Health Organization estimates that the number will double by 2030 (What is Diabetes, 2014).
What is diabetes? When people eat, the food is turned into sugar or glucose for energy (Basics et al., 2015). The pancreas then releases insulin to help the body
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People with type 1 diabetes wear external pumps that need to be checked constantly to make sure they are working correctly (Zhou, 2015). The pump monitors their glucose and sends the information to an external device and then the patients must then keep track of that information (Zhou, 2015). Managing diabetes is a lot of work and because of this many people do not check their blood glucose as often as they should. (Smart contact lens project, 2014). A bionic pancreas is similar to what many Type 1 diabetes patients are already using except the bionic pancreas eliminates the need to constantly check on the sensor and pump (Zhou, 2015). Data is sent to a smartphone directly from the bionic pancreas and using the Bluetooth signal the information is sent to the two pumps, insulin and glucagon, and the correct amount of each is administered without the patient needing to do anything (Schieszer & Zhou, 2015). This is of great benefit to patients who on average need to check their levels between 4 to 10 times a day (Zhou, 2015). Right now the bionic pancreas requires users to check their levels twice a day and they must replace the insulin and glucagon every day. Scientists are aiming to make the bionic pancreas into “one unit the size of an iPhone 5 with an insulin pump, glucagon pump, sensor and receiver in a battery-powered infusion set” ready by 2018 (Zhou, 2015). In the future they hope to create something that will benefit those with Type 2 diabetes (Zhou,