Treatment of diabetes mellitus by devices.

A very important aspect of diabetes mellitus is whether or not normalization or near-normalization of blood glucose and/or other metabolites and hormones may reduce or eliminate the chronic complications of this disease. To answer this question and to provide a more "physiologic" approach to insulin administration, a constellation of devices have reached the stage of clinical investigation. These include small portable pump systems that can provide variable rates of insulin infusion via the subcutaneous intravenous or intraperitoneal routes. In addition, bedside artificial "beta cells" having the capability of providing insulin infusions, with the rate varying as a function of continuous glucose measurements, are available for short-term studies. Under development are implantable continuous infusion devices and implantable glucose sensors that could in the future lead to a miniaturized implantable glucose-controlled insulin administration system.