Technology for continuous invasive monitoring of glucose

Diabetes mellitus is an important disease which afflicts 6% of the adult population of the western world. Regular monitoring of blood glucose concentration as part of a regime of intense therapy reduces the risk of serious complications from Type 1 diabetes. The two main approaches to continuous invasive monitoring are based on sensors coupled to microdialysis probes, and on implantable sensors. Microdialysis-based systems have been used to monitor diabetic patients for up to a week. A number of implantable sensor designs have been evaluated for subcutaneous monitoring of glucose. They have been used successfully for up to ten days in man. Both microdialysis-based and implantable sensors can provide an extremely useful tool in the management of diabetes. Prototype systems using telemetry are now being refined. A recent development in continuous monitoring technology uses microflow perfusion to maintain separation between the sensor and host tissue