At the Children with Diabetes convention at DisneyWorld in July Dr. Irl Hirsch announced that a new Accu-Chek device is the first good way that we have to measure glycemic variability, because it incorporates new low and high blood glucose indices. It’s a big step forward, but the product’s developer tells me that what it offers is something else.
Going beyond the simply measurement of our A1C level, glycemic variability is a measure of its quality. When we have a higher quality A1C, our levels are more steady, minimizing or avoiding high and low blood glucose levels.
The Accu-Chek Smart Pix Device Reader incorporates the low blood glucose index and the high blood glucose index that Dr. Boris Kovatchev, associate director of the University of Virginia Center for Biomathematical Technology, developed. Dr. Hirsch told his audience at the Children with Diabetes convention that the Smart Pix incorporates these indices as a much better tool for calculating glycemic variability than the standard deviation, which has been, well, the standard.
Dr. Hirsch’s enthusiasm for the Smart Pix prompted me to obtain one of these devices. John Odegard, the marketing manager for Disetronic Medical Systems Inc. in Fishers, Indiana, kindly sent me one.
Disetronic, which like Accu-Chek is a Roche subsidiary, makes the D-TRONplus insulin pump, one of the devices that work with the Smart Pix. Accu-Chek also offers the Spirit insulin pump and six blood glucose meters – the Active, Aviva, Compact, Compact Plus, Advantage, and Comfort – all of which also work with the Smart Pix.
It connects to your computer just like a USB memory stick and is optimized to work with PCs, on which I tested it. While reportedly it runs on a Mac, I couldn’t figure out how to do it on mine.
The Smart Pix is a great way for people with diabetes and their health care team to view and analyze blood glucose or insulin pump data quickly and conveniently.You have several distinct views to track readings or insulin delivery over different time periods and can visualize trends, patterns, peaks, and deviations from your desired blood glucose targets.
So that I could understand this new device better, John in Indiana connected me via conference call with the man in Germany who came up with the idea and brought it to market. Peter Blasberg, marketing manager for Roche Diabetes Care in Mannheim, Germany, explained to me that the Smart Pix incorporates both Dr. Kovatchev’s low and high blood glucose indices and the standard deviation as well.
“I like Dr. Kovatchev’s indices a lot because for frequent testers they tell you more about control than the A1C, which is insensitive to low values,” Peter told me. “But it does not reflect hypoglycemic episodes and is not a measure of glycemic variability.”
But Dr. Hirsch said that these indices are the best thing we have now to measure it. “We talked only briefly,” Peter replied.
“I consider Dr. Kovatchev’s indices rather valuable, if you prefer a condensed indicator instead of a detailed analysis of blood glucose values and trends,” Peter continued. “Those two indices are far better than similar, but older attempts like the Schlichtkrull M-values or the mean amplitude of glycemic excursion (MAGE).”
Going beyond the simply measurement of our A1C level, glycemic variability is a measure of its quality. When we have a higher quality A1C, our levels are more steady, minimizing or avoiding high and low blood glucose levels.
The Accu-Chek Smart Pix Device Reader incorporates the low blood glucose index and the high blood glucose index that Dr. Boris Kovatchev, associate director of the University of Virginia Center for Biomathematical Technology, developed. Dr. Hirsch told his audience at the Children with Diabetes convention that the Smart Pix incorporates these indices as a much better tool for calculating glycemic variability than the standard deviation, which has been, well, the standard.
Dr. Hirsch’s enthusiasm for the Smart Pix prompted me to obtain one of these devices. John Odegard, the marketing manager for Disetronic Medical Systems Inc. in Fishers, Indiana, kindly sent me one.
Disetronic, which like Accu-Chek is a Roche subsidiary, makes the D-TRONplus insulin pump, one of the devices that work with the Smart Pix. Accu-Chek also offers the Spirit insulin pump and six blood glucose meters – the Active, Aviva, Compact, Compact Plus, Advantage, and Comfort – all of which also work with the Smart Pix.
It connects to your computer just like a USB memory stick and is optimized to work with PCs, on which I tested it. While reportedly it runs on a Mac, I couldn’t figure out how to do it on mine.
The Smart Pix is a great way for people with diabetes and their health care team to view and analyze blood glucose or insulin pump data quickly and conveniently.You have several distinct views to track readings or insulin delivery over different time periods and can visualize trends, patterns, peaks, and deviations from your desired blood glucose targets.
So that I could understand this new device better, John in Indiana connected me via conference call with the man in Germany who came up with the idea and brought it to market. Peter Blasberg, marketing manager for Roche Diabetes Care in Mannheim, Germany, explained to me that the Smart Pix incorporates both Dr. Kovatchev’s low and high blood glucose indices and the standard deviation as well.
“I like Dr. Kovatchev’s indices a lot because for frequent testers they tell you more about control than the A1C, which is insensitive to low values,” Peter told me. “But it does not reflect hypoglycemic episodes and is not a measure of glycemic variability.”
But Dr. Hirsch said that these indices are the best thing we have now to measure it. “We talked only briefly,” Peter replied.
“I consider Dr. Kovatchev’s indices rather valuable, if you prefer a condensed indicator instead of a detailed analysis of blood glucose values and trends,” Peter continued. “Those two indices are far better than similar, but older attempts like the Schlichtkrull M-values or the mean amplitude of glycemic excursion (MAGE).”
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