Continuous glucose monitoring in conditions other than diabetes.

BACKGROUND

The development of new systems for continuous glucose monitoring has recently increased the interest for their potential applications among physicians involved in diabetes care. One of the most common applications of such devices is the identification of hypoglycaemic events in insulin-treated diabetic patients (particularly during the night) and the evaluation of the full daily glucose excursions.

METHODS

Among commercially available glucose sensors, the Glucoday system has been utilized for practical clinical application in the last two years. One of the most important features of this device is the accuracy in monitoring interstitial glucose values, specifically in the hypoglycaemic range. This feature is clinically relevant when applied in the clinical setting of patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus. The ability to monitor glucose continuously could be indeed a useful tool for the study of hypoglycaemic conditions other than diabetes.

RESULTS

In patients with hyperinsulinaemic hypoglycaemia, recurrent episodes of asymptomatic hypoglycaemia are common, and in patients with glycogen storage diseases, avoidance of recurrent and prolonged hypoglycaemic episodes usually require frequent determinations by mean of home blood glucose monitoring.

CONCLUSIONS

Experimental preliminary evidences suggest that this new technology could be applied in the clinical setting to help the physician to identify mainly nocturnal hypoglycaemic events, otherwise not revealed by traditional self blood-glucose monitoring, even in those patients who are not treated by conventional insulin therapy.