Insulin pumps: From inception to the present and toward the future

Abstract

As an alternative to the usual insulin injections, insulin pumps have been introduced as an advanced method of insulin delivery for managing type 1 diabetes mellitus patients. This review documents the history of insulin pump development and the production of 'smart pumps' that offer patients greater dosing accuracy, flexibility, and ease of use. This has resulted in an increase in the number of insulin pump users around the world. This paper also provides a comprehensive survey of the pumps currently available on the market and their specifications. Unique features of each product and the drawbacks are addressed in the review. The future direction of insulin pump development is targeted toward closing the loop, to allow feedback control between an insulin pump and a glucose sensor, and hence finer adjustment of insulin delivery rates as required. © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.