Ominipods: How Do They Work, the Pros and Cons of Ominipods

Healthful Vitality | 08/16/2021 | Ominipods: How Do Ominipods Work.

Today diabetes mellitus management has become an easy task to deal with the invention of a new device called ‘ominipod.’ Before describing ominipods and how do ominipods work, let us recognize that diabetes mellitus is a common health problem that has dominated the world.

Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder that cannot cure. This chronic noncommunicable disease can manage with dietary modifications, exercises, and pharmacological management. However, these patients cannot regulate their blood glucose levels within the normal range. As a result, they need help from healthcare providers to keep their glucose levels within the normal range. [80-120mg/dl]. As these patients cannot produce any insulin or enough insulin to regulate glucose, administering insulin has become the treatment option that is famous worldwide.

Pharmacological management categorized

Pharmacological management can categorize into two main parts: insulin therapy and oral hyperglycemic therapy. Notably, it can use oral hyperglycemic drugs of different drugs in the management of diabetic Mellitus. Still, insulin therapy is considered the successful and safe method to use long termly. On the other hand, oral drugs do not contain insulin, act on different pathways to reduce blood glucose levels, and give several side effects for the users.

Insulin is a hormone that is produced within the pancreas. This hormone can be administered subcutaneously for all the patients who suffer from type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Notably, there are few types of insulin depending on their half-life and time taken to begin their action after the administration. However, before inventing the ominipod, the insulin consumers had to inject insulin 2-3 times a day depending on their requirements.

What is ominipod?

This is an insulin pump system that has been manufactured to make the patient’s life easier and comfortable. Besides, this small instrument can be used to administer insulin continuously. Indeed, the most effective method to treat diabetes mellitus is the use of continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion but this is expensive and very inconvenient to the user. Therefore, the Insulet Corporation has invented ominipod my omitting the barriers of the continuous subcutaneou insulin therapy. [3]

Notably, this new device avoids the need of injecting insulin several times a day and this has become the easiest way of insulin administration. Diabetes is a chronic disease, where the patients have to accept the reality that they have to adapt to the disease. In fact, they have to use lifelong therapies to regulate the blood glucose level. So this has become a huge burden and psychologically this will draw the patient down. However, now the ominipod makes diabetes an easy topic for the patients.

Ominipods: How Do They Work?

This device mainly contains two compartments as the remote and the pump. The pump is always controlled by the remote. These two compartments can interact wirelessly. 

Ominipod contains an insulin reservoir of 200IU of Insulin. The technology inside the ominipod is called the shape memory alloy. Where this technology can deliver a very small amount of insulin. The tiny wires within this pump get heated while expanding and it gets contacted while cooling. This technology within the pump helps deliver insulin via the cannula. [1]

What are the pros and cons of ominipod?

There are both pros and cons of the insulin pump systems. But when we consider the overall function of the ominipod it is very convenient to the user. It makes the life of insulin consumers easy.

As this device can provide continuous insulin there will be no human errors as the administration is not done manually. As the insulin pump is an automated device it stops working after 72hours.

This device reduces the complications of insulin therapy such as lip dystrophy and lipoatrophy. But there is the chance of building blockages within the cannula where it is necessary to replace the whole device.

This has become very cost-effective and convenient, but this method cannot be used to administer insulin bolus during an emergency.

This instrument reduces the wastage of insulin as there is no trapped insulin within the tubing but the maximum capacity of the reservoir is 200 IU. [2]

What type of insulin does the reservoir contain?

A rapid-acting insulin is filled into the reservoir and makes sure the insulin is not expired and has the desired function, if not the patient can end up with hyperglycemia.

Does ominipod measure blood glucose level?

This device delivers insulin to the subcutaneous route and this is capable of measuring blood glucose every 5miniutes and display it on the screen.

References

1. Ly, T. T. et al. (2019) ‘Novel Bluetooth-Enabled Tubeless Insulin Pump: Innovating Pump Therapy for Patients in the Digital Age’, Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology, 13(1), pp. 20–26. doi: 10.1177/1932296818798836. Retrieved from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30239214/
   
2. Z. Zisser, H. C. (2010) ‘The OmniPod Insulin Management System: the latest innovation in insulin pump therapy’, Diabetes Therapy, 1(1), p. 10. doi: 10.1007/S13300-010-0004-6. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3118276/
   
3. Zisser, H. and Jovanovic, L. (2006) ‘OmniPod Insulin Management System’, Diabetes Care, 29(9), pp. 2175–2175. doi: 10.2337/DC06-0986. Retrieved from https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/29/9/2175.2