Diabetes finger pricks for blood glucose measurement

Are fingersticks for blood glucose measurement obsolete soon?

09/16/2014

Regular blood glucose monitoring using annoying finger pricks could soon be a thing of the past for many people suffering from diabetes.

With at least 1,800 stitches per year, the blood glucose monitoring of the person being treated is monitored. This is urgently needed to adapt the required amount of insulin to the sugar levels and to avoid hypoglycemia, which is also technically also called hypoglycaemia, of the body. Especially the persons suffering from diabetes type 1 are affected. Hypoglycaemia may occur, e.g. by headache, general weakness and trembling noticeable. At the Diabetes Congress in Vienna, the US diagnostics group Abbott "presented a novel system to spare diabetes patients the samples.

Old measurement methods could soon be superfluous
These are small fibers that penetrate almost painlessly into the subcutaneous tissue of the upper arm when applied. This fiber is only 5mm long and 0.4mm thin. The sensor on which this measuring fiber is located is no larger than a 2 Euro coin and continuously measures the sugar value via the tissue fluid.

Without further ado, the patient can travel across the sensor with a small reader to immediately see the current glucose levels. The device is able to display a profile of the last eight hours. Common methods required up to 15 measurements a day to get accurate data. The new sensor module, in turn, is only carried for 14 days and can then be disposed of. "Basically, you do not want to have individual blood glucose levels, but to know the blood sugar pattern and bring the disease overall under control," said the British diabetologist Gerry Rayman. If the system is successful, patients will experience one puncture every 14 days compared to the 1,800 annual stings mentioned earlier.

Worldwide, 371 million people have diabetes
The new system could reach as many as 371 million people affected by diabetes, according to Abbott. There are 55 million patients in Europe alone. 40% of all diabetics do not test their blood sugar levels at all. The new system could change that for many. In order to test the reliability of the system, there will be a long-term study with type 1 and 2 diabetes patients. It will be available in 7 European countries in the coming weeks. There is still no information about a reimbursement by the health insurance companies. (Bn)

Image: Henrik Gerold Vogel