Having your glucose reading sent to your cell phone seems a bit over the top

Groundbreaking wireless sensor monitors diabetics' blood sugar from the INSIDE
By CLAIRE BATES
Last updated at 9:26 AM on 29th July 2010

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Researchers have developed an implantable sensor that measures blood sugar continuously and transmits the information wirelessly.

The round device has the potential to overhaul the way Britain's 2.5million diabetics control their disease.

The sealed device, which would be implanted in a person's torso, has a pair of sensors. One sensor detects oxygen while the other studies the reaction of oxygen and glucose. This information is then transmitted wirelessly through an integrated antenna.


Scientists said the revolutionary blood glucose monitor, which measures 1.5inches across, could be available under prescription from a GP within a few years

The device has been tested in one pig for more than a year and in another for nearly 10 months with no problems, scientists reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Lead author Professor David Gough, from the UC San Diego, said: 'You can run the device for a year or more with it constantly working, and recording glucose quite satisfactorily.

'Now, we are focused on getting the human clinical trials going. We hope to begin the first human trial within in a few months.

'If all goes well with the human clinical trials, we anticipate that in several years, this device could be purchased under prescription from a physician.'


A patient injects herself with insulin. Scientists hope their implant could eventually lead to an 'artificial pancreas' that would monitor bloog sugar levels AND deliver insulin (posed)

The long-term glucose sensor could be used by people with both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. People with Type 1 diabetes do not make enough insulin of their own.

The long-term glucose sensors could be used to adjust the insulin dose and timing of the injection and reduce the risk of taking too much insulin and becoming hypoglycemic, which can be immediately life threatening.

Hypoglycemia happens when you get too much insulin for the available glucose, or when insulin absorbs too rapidly.

People with Type 2 diabetes could use the long-term glucose sensors to help them adjust their diet and exercise schedule. Also, some people with Type 2 diabetes take insulin and have the same hypoglycemia worries as people with Type 1 diabetes.

The ultimate goal is to limit the dangerous ups and downs of blood glucose levels, known as 'glucose excursions.' These prolonged glucose excursions cause the long term problems associated with diabetes, which include blindness and heart attacks.

The implant used in the pig study is about 1.5 inches in diameter and half an inch thick, but Professor Gough said they hoped to make it smaller. It transmits information 10 to 12 feet.

Professor Gough said soon the glucose monitor could send its signals to mobiles.


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'There are parents with diabetic children who spend their nights worrying that their child in a nearby bedroom may go into nocturnal hypoglycemia,' he said.

An implanted sensor could wake a parent if the child's glucose levels dropped to a dangerous level.

There are 2.5 million people diagnosed with diabetes in the UK and over 500,000 people who have the condition but donât know it. Around 10 per cent are thought to have Type 1 diabetes, which usually appears before the age of 40.