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Change Your Life! |
New
way to measure blood sugar
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March 4, 2000 Hershey.
Pa, Mar 3: Diabetics who must measure their blood sugar levels with needle
injections may soon have a pain-free alternative in the form of a
hand-held ultrasound machine, a medical expert said on Thursday, reports
Reuters. Dr.
Robert Gabbay, assistant professor of medicine at Pennsylvania State
University’s College of Medicine, said a clinical trail he conduced with
colleagues on seven diabetics using the new ultrasound method measured
blood sugar levels almost as accurately as needles. “It’s
significant because (the ultrasound method) would be a way to measure
glucose levels that would painless for the patient.” He said. 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 diseased, stroke and death. Diabetes
patients must measure their glucose levels daily by drawing blood form
areas of the body including arms, legs, the belly or buttocks. They also
must reduce their glucose levels by using needles to inject insulin into
their bloodstreams. Gabby
said 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 he said. Source: The Daily Star |