Your Body vs. Implants

Why do medical implants like insulin pumps and prosthetic knees need replacement? Explore how the immune system fights implants and how new devices are trying to help.

Insulin pumps improve the lives of millions of people with diabetes around the world by monitoring blood sugar, delivering insulin, and preventing the need for constant finger-pricking. But there’s a catch: they’re temporary. And it’s not only insulin pumps that have this problem, but all bodily implants. Why is that? Kaitlyn Sadtler details how our immune system reacts to foreign bodies.