[Insulin therapy using a portable pump in children. Apropos of a pediatric experience].
Experience accumulated with 17 pediatric patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus treated with an insulin pump is reported. Follow-up exceeds four years in seven patients. A significant improvement in metabolic control was seen in only four patients and was confined to the first year of use of the pump. Overall, the improvement in control was not significant. Severe hypoglycemia was uncommon (0.27/patient-year). Ketoacidosis was rare (0.08/patient-year). Transient ketosis was the most common adverse event and was often related to technical problems which should immediately lead to appropriate action by patients who have received proper education. Use of an insulin pump remains an alternative which deserves to be considered when conventional therapies fail.