Diabetics try new 'round the clock' sensor

clipped from www.mail.com By LAURAN NEERGAARD Diabetes care is undergoing a transformation: Thousands of patients are switching from a few finger-pricks a day to track their disease to new sensors that keep guard around the clock. The last six months brought boosts to the technology, as federal health officials approved children's use of a sensor that works for three days in a row -- and cleared the longest-lasting version yet, a seven-day model, for adults. The ultimate goal is to create an "artificial pancreas," pairing such sensors with implanted pumps that would automatically dispense insulin to make a diabetic's blood sugar better resemble a healthy person's. For now, the hope is that these under-the-skin sensors will empower the most vulnerable patients who require insulin injections -- to make changes that better control their disease. Perhaps more important, they come with alarms that can sound in time to avoid dangerously high or low blood-sugar levels. "It really catches problems before they're problems,"

A research director who has used the sensor since 2006, warns it is no 'magic bullet', the trials have been promising. What is being discovered, is expected to, be valuable information, in the development of an artificial pancreas.
The sensor can indicate when insulin injections are needed, development is still needed to make a device that will be accurate for a longer periods. The latest sensor approved will last for 7 days