Medtronic just published results from their ASPIRE study showing decreased time in hypoglycemia for patients using their new “low glucose suspend” feature. The new system will automatically and temporarily suspend insulin delivery if the patient’s glucose falls below a set threshold value. In this case, the threshold of <70 mg/dl was used.
Automatic prevention of hypoglycemia is a big step forward in assuring the safety of patients with type 1 diabetes. What will be an interesting next step will be to see if this data is reproducible in a “normal,” home environment, since this study was done by inducing hypoglycemia through exercise in a research setting. Though we may or may not see major improvements in long-term clinical outcomes with this new technology, it seems like it may start to reduce the need for waking up with hypoglycemia and having a snack at 4am, and it seems like a step closer to realizing a “closed loop.”
I know that there are a number of patients who use Medtronic pumps and Dexcom sensors because they find the Dexcom sensor more comfortable. This new feature requires use of both the Medtronic pump and Medtronic sensor in order to create the first step towards a closed-loop system. I wonder whether this new feature will convince at least a few patients to switch to using a Medtronic sensor.
I’d be curious to hear comments from any patients who are in this situation and what your thoughts are.
Graph below taken from the Diabetes Technology and Therapeutics publication showing glucose values from patients with and without the low glucose suspend feature.
