Continuous Blood Glucose Monitoring and Insulin Pumps

Use of portable pumps is increasing to achieve intensive insulin treatment. Beside unpredictable insulin absorption and insufficient reactivity to changes of insulin flow rate due to the subcutaneous route, this therapy is however limited by the lack of information on blood glucose level provided by self-blood glucose monitoring. Some studies have found that even those patients who intensively manage their disease – measuring their glucose an average of nine times a day – spent less than 30% of the day in normal glucose range. The rest of the time, their glucose was either too high (which can lead to complications including eye, heart, kidney, and nerve disease), or too low (which can cause seizures, comas, and death). But studies have also found that patients with access to real-time glucose levels spent 26% more time in normal glucose range, and have statistically significant improvements in HbA1c levels, an important measure of longer-term glucose control. Still under investigation, implantable glucose sensors should be able to insure vigilance towards the risk of hypo- and hyperglycemia.