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One monitors changes in skin surface parameters and the other a breath analyzer. US and Australian researchers have come up with noninvasive techniques for checking blood glucose levels that could one day replace painful finger sticks, according to findings The method developed by the US group relies on the analysis of exhaled compounds, whereas the test developed by the Australian team measures skin-surface parameters.
Dr. Pietro Galassetti, lead researcher of the US team said that "Some people claim that finger sticks are not that bad, but we’ve done some screening studies and found that many children do not want such sticks. "So an easy-to-use, noninvasive method of measuring blood glucose would be an advance."
Using sophisticated analytical techniques, Dr. Galassetti’s team, from the University of California at Irvine, was able to measure very low levels of volatile organic compounds that were exhaled by 10 volunteers during oral glucose tolerance testing (OGTT).
"We looked at levels of about 80 different gases present in exhaled breath," Dr. Galassetti said. "The two that best correlated with glucose levels during OGTT were ethanol and acetone. Using these compounds, we were able to predict (the subjects’) blood sugar profile with an average correlation coefficient of 0.7."
Larger studies involving metabolically diverse populations with additional gas analyses are needed to determine how practical this technique will be for the average diabetic patient, Dr. Galassetti said. At present, he said his group is working alone without any corporate sponsorship.
In the second study, Dr. Nejhdeh Ghevondian and colleagues, from AiMedics Ltd. in Sydney, Australia, tested the ability of a device they developed called HypoMon to detect hypoglycemia in patients with type 1 diabetes.
The device consists of a chest-belt transmitter that continuously monitors changes in skin surface parameters. This transmitter then sends the data to a hand-held receiver that actually "learns" the changes characteristic of hypoglycemia.
In a small group of diabetic patients and healthy controls, HypoMon detected the actual blood glucose level with a correlation coefficient of 0.94 and a mean error of 15.2%.
Further studies are underway to validate the device’s use as a long-term nocturnal hypoglycemia monitor, the authors note.
Presented this weekend at the 64th annual scientific sessions of the American Diabetes Association in Orlando, Florida.
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