Six Continuous Glucose Monitors Approved | DC Metro Area Personal Injury Law Blog

By Victor E. Long, Esq.

Six continuous glucose monitors are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA): CGMS System Gold, Guardian REAL-time System, Guardian RT, MiniMed Paradigm REAL-Time System (all from Medtronic), DexCom STS, and The Abbott FreeStyle Navigator.  Continuous glucose monitors can enable you to spot general trends in how well you are controlling your blood glucose, recognize whether it is on its way up or down, and help determine adjustments in your treatment. Better yet, the new sensors even include alarms that can warn you if your blood glucose is too low or too high.

Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems use a tiny sensor inserted under the skin to check glucose levels in tissue fluid. The sensor stays in place for several days to a week and then must be replaced. A transmitter sends information about glucose levels via radio waves from the sensor to a pagerlike wireless monitor.

Unfortunately, continuous monitors are costly and health insurance coverage is presently a real problem.