Medtronic’s Paradigm REAL-Time Insulin Pump (522/722) was the world’s first with built in CGM functionality.
Medtronic’s Guardian REAL-Time Continuous Glucose Monitoring System is a stand-alone monitor and wireless Minilink transmitter that can be used by any diabetes patient wanting to get a better insight into their glucose trends.
The sensors read the interstitial fluid readings (known as ISIGs), giving a glucose reading which can be used to adjust insulin doses and to glean a greater insight into any individual’s own body rhythms.
Recording glucose every 10 seconds
All Medtronic’s devices use the same sensor, which records glucose data every 10 seconds and transmits the average reading to update the monitor every 5 minutes.
In this way it is possible for you to see if your body’s sugar levels are moving up, or moving down.
As you can set alarms on the system, it means that you should be able to get advance notice of a lowering blood sugar so that you can take action and hopefully avert a hypo.
CGM isn’t cheap!
These are currently very expensive items at around £50 per sensor, each one of which should last about six days.
Generally access through the NHS is only for those with relatively severe hypos but as technology and access improves these are likely to become much more common place along with insulin pump therapy.
More information
- Call Medtronic on 01923 205167
