In May 2015 Belgium was one of the first countries in the world to reimburse use of the Medtronic #640G pump. In the media also known as the artificial pancreas. After 18 months of usage I can endorse its strengths but must also admit that it is for sure no artificial pancreas. You still need brain cells to handle the diabetes hustle.
In case you need to change pump; underneath a full work-up of the 640G. 

The 640G is a great advancement. Reason? It stops BEFORE you are low. This for maximum 2 hours. The #640G also restarts insulin delivery automatically in order to prevent unwanted hypers. Moreover it has a color screen. For someone with type 1 diabetes who needs to monitor 24/7 its diabetes management that makes a difference. And yes, it’s also more fun.

All of this together aims to create something called an Artificial Pancreas. It’s close but the silly thing is that Medtronic’s CGM system is not accurate enough. Therefor the pump corrects on the wrong numbers which causes you to still end up with highs and lows. When the CGM sends correct values to your pump then it is nearly an artificial pancreas. As I have tried the very first CGM from Medtronic, up to the latest now, I can only admire the great improvements Medtronic made across the years. Nevertheless the CGM system is good enough to rely on it and it should not be the reason not to choose for the 640G. It works, just not always that accurate.

The pump itself is also great, they flipped the VEO upside down so you wear the pump vertical now. Due to this change you have a bigger screen. Which is handy when checking your BG on the CGM screen. The overall pump grew a little in size but not significantly. Here again great changes! If you want a fashionable color; Medtronic made the 640G available in 5 colors. Black, white, blue, purple and pink. Various websites sell covers so you personalise your pump all the way.

The user interface of the Medtronic 640G remained in the house-style. In other terms, you can still find your  things pretty easily when you come from another Medtronic device.

Just as with previous pumps the partnership with Bayer and Medtronic is still going so if you check your BG with Bayer’s Contour system then it’s send to your pump. No actions to be taken.

So Should you change to the 640G when it becomes available? I’d say yes! Not perfect, or an artificial pancreas as Marketed by some, but it comes close and with continuous improvements in Medtronic’s CGM system you can get a true grip of your Diabetes whilst living the life you want .