A new approach to diabetic control: Fuzzy logic and insulin pump technology

Diabetes is a major health problem. Since the utilisation of insulin in the 1920s there have been myriad problems in developing suitable technologies to formulate and administer correct dosages to temper this metabolic disease. From multiple daily injections, nasal inhalations and enzymatic supplementation these artificial shortcuts still do not have the ability to fully replicate a 'normoglycaemic' state of being. In this paper, we sought to explore the use of insulin pumps and the application of fuzzy logic technology to act as an 'artificial pancreas' in diabetic patients. This paper builds on our previous work [Grant P, Naesh, O. Fuzzy logic and decision-making in anaesthetics. J Roy Soc Med 2005;98(1):7-9 [review]]. (C) 2006 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of IPEM.