Diabetics who must measure their blood sugar levels with needle injections may soon have a pain-free alternative in the form of a handheld ultrasound machine, almost as accurately as needles. It's significant because the ultrasound method would be a way to measure glucose levels that would be painless for the patient.

Diabetes occurs when blood sugar, or glucose, a source of body fuel, is too high and the body is not able to burn it. The disease can lead to blindness, organ diseases, stroke and death. Some diabetes patients must measure their glucose levels daily by pricking the skin and drawing a tiny amount of blood. They also must reduce their glucose levels by using needles to inject insulin into their bloodstream.

In the clinical trial, a single burst of low-frequency ultrasound was applied to the surface of the skin to make it permeable, allowing glucose to cross the skin surface and be measured. Patients' glucose levels were measured every 15 minutes for four hours. The study used patients with type 1 diabetes, which typically occurs in children and young adults and requires daily insulin injections to reduce glucose levels.

Type 2 diabetes occurs more frequently in older adults and can be managed with oral medication. Researchers took blood from one of the patients to just be sure the new method had the correct results. "Both methods had almost the identical readings," he said. The researchers hope to conduct a larger trial later this year and that the method could be available to diabetics in a couple of years. A handheld device has been developed so patients can ultimately do the test at home.

Nature Medicine March 2000 6:347-350