TTSH helps refine AI-enabled tool that will calculate accurate insulin dosage

Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) and biomedical technology company Buzud are working on an AI or artificial intelligence-enabled tool in an app to help diabetes patients accurately calculate their correct insulin dosage before a meal.

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Using an AI-trained camera feature in the app, a patient would snap a picture of his food. The app would then identify meal components in the picture and use data from the patient's wearable continuous glucose monitor (CGM) to perform the calculations.

Most diabetic patients today estimate the amount of insulin they should jab before their meals, said senior nurse clinician Lian Xia from TTSH's Department of Endocrinology.

"This has been the way for a long time because there is no simpler way to do it," said Ms Lian, who is spearheading the project on the hospital's end.

She shared that patients of the endocrine clinic often experience anxiety over miscalculation of insulin doses, especially among those newly diagnosed or adjusting to their need for multiple daily injections.

Patients with Type 1 diabetes, advanced Type 2 diabetes, gestational and pancreatogenic diabetes are required to either perform calculations before their meals to know the precise amount of insulin to self-administer before eating, or make a guess based on meals they previously had.

Insulin dose calculation involves a measurement of all the carbohydrates in the meal before performing a finger-prick test to determine the patient's excess blood glucose levels.

Patients would then need to determine how many additional units of insulin are needed to counter any excess glucose and sum up the total amount of insulin required.

This test has to be done multiple times a day.