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Continuous glucose monitoring: long live the revolution!

Nature Clinical Practice Endocrinology & Metabolism volume 5, pages 82–83 (2009)Cite this article

Real-time, continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) has moved from the research phase into clinical practice. Personal, portable CGM systems are now being used routinely by patients with diabetes mellitus to monitor their blood-sugar levels. In the future, CGM could become a standard method of glucose monitoring and replace current methods of self-monitoring of blood glucose, in which complete data on glucose levels and patterns cannot be attained. The number and frequency of glucose readings that CGM can provide will necessitate the development of new models of diabetes care, which will most likely emphasize the prevention of glycemic variation, rather than the improvement of responses to abnormal glucose levels.1

CGM devices consist of three main units: a glucose-oxidase-based electrochemical sensor, a wireless transmitter and a data-storage device. The sensor, which the patient inserts subcutaneously, measures interstitial glucose concentration. Sensors need to be changed every 3–7 days, according to the manufacturer's recommendations.2 Measurements are transferred to a pager-sized data-storage device that displays glucose values every 1–5 min and provides a near-continuous measurement of interstitial glucose concentration. To date, three CGM systems have been approved by the FDA: the Seven System (DexCom, San Diego, CA), the FreeStyle Navigator® system (Abbott, Abbott Park, IL) and the REAL-Time system (Medtronic MiniMed, Minneapolis, MN). The sensor in the REAL–Time CGM system can be linked to the MiniMed Paradigm® insulin pump to display glucose values.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. F Waldron-Lynch is a Fellow and KC Herold is a Professor in the Departments of Immunobiology and Internal Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.,

    Frank Waldron-Lynch & Kevan C Herold

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  1. Frank Waldron-Lynch
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  2. Kevan C Herold
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Correspondence to Kevan C Herold.

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Waldron-Lynch, F., Herold, K. Continuous glucose monitoring: long live the revolution!. Nat Rev Endocrinol 5, 82–83 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncpendmet1044

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