Impact of the FreeStyle Libre 2® System on Glycaemic Outcomes in Patients with Type 1 Diabetes-Preliminary Study.

We aimed to evaluate glycaemic control in patients with type 1 diabetes during the first three months of use of the flash glucose monitoring (FGM) system. METHODS: We conducted a study of a cohort of 81 people with type 1 diabetes mellitus who used the FreeStyle Libre 2 (FSL2) sensor continuously for 3 months. Patients had not used a CGM before. The effectiveness of using the FSL2 system was assessed using AGP reports at two time points (3-4 weeks and 11-12 weeks of system use). RESULTS: Eight weeks after using FSL2, compared with results from 3-4 weeks of use, there were no differences in the glucose management indicator, time spent in range, above range and below range, or glucose variability. In the first month of FGM use, patients scanned the sensor significantly more often than in the following two months (p = 0.021). No significant differences were found in the change of the evaluated parameters when comparing patients by duration of diabetes and treatment method. CONCLUSIONS: Short-term use of FSL2 promotes a significant reduction in GMI in patients with more time spent in hyperglycaemia (especially > 250 mg/dL). In this short period of use, no other changes in glycaemic control parameters are observed.

Assessment of microvascular function using a novel technique Flow Mediated Skin Fluorescence (FMSF) in patients with diabetic kidney disease: A preliminary study.

BACKGROUND: Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) plays an important role in morbidity and mortality in patients with diabetes mellitus. The pathogenesis of this microangiopathy is mainly due to impaired vascular endothelial function. The Flow Mediated Skin Fluorescence (FMSF) method is an innovative, non-invasive tool for assessing the microcirculation function (especially microcirculatory response to hypoxia), also in patients with complications of diabetes mellitus (DM). MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study was conducted at the Medical University of Lodz, Poland. Total of 84 volunteers including 30 patients with DKD, 33 patients with DM without complications, and 21 healthy subjects underwent microvascular function assessments using FMSF. This technique measures changes in the intensity of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) fluorescence from the skin on the forearm as a function of time, in response to blocking and releasing blood flow in the forearm. In this study we asses two key parameters: Reactive Hyperemia Response (RHR) and Hypoxia Sensitivity [log(HS)] to characterize vascular circulation in patients with DKD and their response to transient ischemia. RESULTS: The patients with low reactive hyperemic response (the RHR parameter) had a significantly higher sCr than patients with moderate and high RHR value (p < 0.001, p < 0.05, respectively) and a significantly lower eGFR than the patients with moderate and high RHR parameter (p < 0.001, p < 0.01, respectively). The patients with very low and low log(HS) values had a significantly higher sCr than the patients with high log(HS) (p < 0.001, p < 0.01, respectively), and a significantly lower eGFR than the patients with high log(HS) parameter (p < 0.001, p < 0.01, respectively). The patients with very low log(HS) had a significantly higher sCr and a significantly lower eGFR than the patients with moderate (p < 0.05, p < 0.01, respectively). The mean value of the RHR parameter was significantly lower in DKD patients (18.31 ± 5.06 %) compared to both healthy subjects (34.37 ± 8.18 %, p < 0.001) and DM without complications subgroup (28.75 ± 7.12 %, p < 0.001). Similar trends were noted with the mean value of log(HS) parameter in DKD subgroup (1.03 ± 0.5) vs. healthy subjects (1.59 ± 0.53, p < 0.001), and vs. DM without complications subgroup (1.73 ± 0.52, p < 0.001). We observed a significant inverse correlation between the RHR parameter and serum creatinine (sCr) and a significant positive correlations with eGFR (R =  -0.3; p < 0.05, R = 0.61; p < 0.001, respectively). We found also a significant negative correlations of the log(HS) measure with sCr and a significant positive correlations with eGFR (R = -0.33; p < 0.01, R = 0.55; p < 0.001, respectively). We observed also a significant inverse correlation between the RHR and log(HS) parameters and advanced glycation end products (AGEs) (R = -0.6; p < 0.001, R = -0.32; p < 0.01, respectively). The AGEs parameter was also a significantly higher in patients with low RHR parameter than in patients with moderate (p < 0.01) and high (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The FMSF technique makes it possible to identify impairments of the microvascular function in patients with DKD. This study confirms that the simple two-parametric approach diagnostic tool perfectly characterizes the state of the microvascular system in diabetic patients with impaired renal function. These preliminary results require further validation in a larger patients cohort.

Differentiation of Diabetic Foot Ulcers Based on Stimulation of Myogenic Oscillations by Transient Ischemia.

PURPOSE: Diabetic foot ulceration is a chronic complication characterized by impaired wound healing. There is a great demand for a diagnostic tool that is able to monitor and predict wound healing. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Oscillations in the microcirculation, known as flowmotion, can be monitored very distinctly and precisely using the Flow Mediated Skin Fluorescence (FMSF) technique. The flowmotion response to hypoxia was measured quantitatively in 42 patients with diabetic foot ulcers. RESULTS: The flowmotion response to hypoxia parameters FM(R) and HS were used to differentiate the diabetic foot ulcers and correlate them with clinical status. In some cases, FMSF measurements were continued over the period of a year in order to monitor disease progress. The clinical status of the quarter of patients with the highest HS values (group A, HS = 50.2±18.3) was compared to the quarter with the lowest HS values (group B, HS = 4.3±1.7). The patients in the group B were identified as having low prognosis for healing and were characterized by higher incidences of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, prevalent CVD, neuropathy and nephropathy. CONCLUSION: Impaired flowmotion responses to hypoxia induced by transient ischemia can be used for differentiation of diabetic foot ulcers and identification of cases with low prognosis for healing.