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Diabetes: Treatments

NON-INVASIVE BLOOD GLUCOSE MONITORS

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a noninvasive blood glucose monitoring device for adults, children, and adolescents with diabetes. Noninvasive monitoring means checking blood glucose levels without puncturing the skin for a blood sample. The GlucoWatch G2 Biographer, manufactured by Cygnus Inc., was approved to detect glucose level trends and track patterns in people with diabetes. It must be used along with conventional blood glucose monitoring of blood samples. The device, which looks like a wristwatch, pulls body fluid from the skin using small electric currents. It can provide six measurements per hour for 13 hours.

Over the years, scientists have been trying to find noninvasive ways for people with diabetes to measure their blood glucose. Most methods of monitoring blood glucose require a blood sample, usually obtained by using an automatic lancing device on a finger. Some meters use a blood sample from a less sensitive area, such as the upper arm, forearm, or thigh. Other devices use a beam of light instead of a lancet to pierce the skin.

For More Information

Researchers are developing other methods of noninvasive monitoring. Potential ways to determine blood glucose levels include

• shining a beam of light onto the skin or through body tissues


• measuring the energy waves (infared radiation) emitted by the body


• applying radio waves to the fingertips


• using ultrasound


• checking the thickness (also called the viscosity) of fluids in tissue underneath the skin

To learn more about such monitors and new products after approval, call the FDA at 1Ð888ÐINFOÐFDA (1Ð888Ð463Ð6332) or check the FDA website on diabetes at www.fda.gov/diabetes and click on the section titled "Glucose Meters & Diabetes Management."

Additional Information on Noninvasive Blood Glucose Monitors

The National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse collects resource information on diabetes for the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) Reference Collection. This database provides titles, abstracts, and availability information for health information and health education resources. The NIDDK Reference Collection is a service of the National Institutes of Health.

To provide you with the most up-to-date resources, information specialists at the clearinghouse created an automatic search of the NIDDK Reference Collection. To obtain this information, you may view the results of the automatic search on Noninvasive Blood Glucose Monitors.

If you wish to perform your own search of the database, you may access and search the NIDDK Reference Collection database online.