Patient self-management of continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion

Abstract

Continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) is one of the ways to control blood glucose for prolonged periods. This study was undertaken to establish the long-term feasibility and efficacy of CSII with patient self-management. Patients were instructed to maintain their calorie and carbohydrate intake. Basal infusion of insulin, representing 50% of the total pre-CSII dose, was supplemented by boluses of insulin based on carbohydrate intake for each meal. With this type of regimen, blood glucose and M-values were easily normalized during the physician-directed periods. This study demonstrated that near-normalization of blood glucose, M-values, and glycosylated hemoglobin was maintained after a 1 1/2-yr period of patient self-management. We attributed this successful management in part to the protocol used, in which boluses were related solely to carbohydrate intake while basal insulin was adjusted according to fasting blood glucose. The chronic normalization of blood glucose resulted in improvement of platelet function as witnessed by responsiveness to antiaggregating (PGE1) and aggregating (epinephrine) agents. An improvement was noticed in doppler measurement of ankle-arm blood pressure and a near-normalization of nerve latency and conductivity was observed.