Continuous glucose monitoring and insulin pump therapy for diabetes in pregnancy

Abstract

Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems and continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) systems, or insulin pumps, offer great promise for improved glycemic control during pregnancy. Combined, these two devices could potentially constitute an artificial pancreas, where real-time blood glucose readings are relayed to an insulin pump that uses a personalized algorithm to decide how much insulin is needed by the patient’s body. However, the promise of these two systems have not yet been proven individually or in combination in controlled clinical trials to improve pregnancy outcomes. Such trials are urgently needed before the widespread use of these devices in pregnancy can be justified.

Keywords::

• Artificial pancreas
• continuous glucose monitoring
• continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion
• gestational diabetes
• large for gestational age
• type 1 diabetes
• type 2 diabetes

Acknowledgements

This work was originally presented at the 12th Annual Meeting of the Diabetes in Pregnancy Study Group of North America, 1–2 April 2011, Washington, DC, USA.

Declaration of Interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.