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Diabetes Devices

The first 300 words of the full text of this article appear below.

	Introduction

 
Nowhere in the medical world is progress more evident than in the treatment of diabetes. Less than a century ago, diabetes was virtually uncontrollable and, especially in the case of type 1 diabetes, could be considered a terminal disease. The discovery and use of insulin in the 1920s allowed individuals to control diabetes to an extent, but commercial blood glucose testing techniques would not become available for 50 more years. Patients' daily routine was centered on treating the disease, which included boiling syringes and sharpening needles, injecting animal-based insulin formulations, maintaining unvarying diets and daily activity, and dealing with seemingly unpredictable fluctuations in blood glucose levels. Patients' lives revolved around the treatment of a disease over which they had very limited control.

During recent decades, however, treatment of diabetes has changed profoundly. The ability to control blood glucose levels has improved tremendously, and the time required to do so has decreased. The improvements are particularly evident in regard to instruments used to monitor glucose and to administer insulin.

	Insulin Pens

 
The goal of insulin administration is to normalize blood glucose levels, whether a patient has type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Normalization of glucose levels decreases patients' risk of developing microvascular complications in type 1 or type 2 diabetes and has also been shown to decrease the risk of developing macrovascular complications in type 1 diabetes.^1-3

Historically, insulin has been administered via a syringe that is filled from a vial of insulin. More recently, refillable pen-like injection devices and prefilled disposable pens have become available as alternatives. Still more recently, insulin administration options have expanded to include inhaled products and formulations that are forced subcutaneously via a burst of air, but these techniques are used less frequently, and there is currently no commercially available inhaled insulin product. Insulin pens are frequently used . . . [Full Text of this Article]

	Monitoring Glucose

 

	Insulin Pumps

 

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