Comparison of fluorescent and electrochemical techniques for continuous glucose monitoring

Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) provides more information about shifting blood glucose levels throughout the day in comparison to the current methods and facilitates reaching optimal treatments for the diabetic patients. It has the potential for revolutionizing the care and treatment of individuals with type 1 diabetes. In continuous glucose monitoring devices, sensors are placed into the human body and measure the glucose in interstitial fluid. Most of the current CGM devices are working enzyme based on electrochemical sensing of the glucose concentration. Recently new methods had been developed which their sensing method is based on specific fluorescent indicators that measure the glucose concentrations optically. CGM devices can be used whether with insulin pumps or injections for insulin delivery. Usually, the sensor repeatedly reports glucose concentration every few minutes and transmitter wirelessly send the information to a receiver. The best part in the function of CGM devices is the continuous and real-time detection of the glucose concentration of diabetic patients, which results in better management of glucose concentration and lower amounts of HbA1c test. On the other hand, these devices can be programmed to warn patients in sleep, if their glucose concentration became very low. But these devices have some technical challenges such as the repetition of calibration for each sensor and demand on replacement of sensors after a short period of time, nearly every two weeks based on the product and producer. This problem results in the high price for usage of the devices. Continuous glucose monitoring devices have many important advantages that result in their usefulness in comparison with current devices being used for glucose monitoring. But they have some technical problems that more research and development solve them. Our previous results on electrochemical glucose detection and paper based colorimetric detection of glucose will be used to evaluate new continuous fluorometric method.

Keywords:

Continuous glucose monitoring , CGM , Artificial pancreas , Diabetes