Page 438 - Handbook of Biomechatronics

432 Graham Brooker

The development of insulin pumps started in the early 1960s, when Dr.
Arnold Kadish developed the first insulin pump. It delivered both glucagon
and insulin, and was the size of a rucksack, as can be seen from Fig. 13
(Fernandez and Marcus, 1996).
Over the years, insulin pumps have become much more refined and have
decreased to the size and weight of a mobile phone. Insulin pump therapy is
no longer seen as experimental, but is viewed as an acceptable alternative to
multiple daily injection therapy in the management of diabetes
(American_Diabetes_Association, 2013). However, it was a long road from
the Kadish backpack to this point. In 1976 a battery operated infusion pump
was developed at the National Institute for Medical Research, based in Mill
Hill, London. This “Mill Hill Infuser” shown in Fig. 14 is claimed to be first
portable insulin infusion pump made to treat diabetes. It provided a constant
“basal rate” dose of insulin, and the speed could be altered manually to pro-
duce an increased “bolus dose” as required.
At about the same time, Dean Kamen, better known as the driving force
behind the Segway and later the DEKA prosthetic arm, also developed a

Fig. 13 Drawing of the first rucksack sized insulin pump developed by Dr. Arnold
Kadish. (Adapted from Fernandez, M., Marcus, A., 1996. Insulin pump therapy: acceptable
alternative to injection therapy. Postgrad. Med. 99, 125–132, 141–144.)