I was recently talking with a Certified Diabetic Educator who was in a Toronto hospital earlier this year. He was explaining a bloodless glucose monitor that they were using on site. It was made by Abbott and from what he was told is supposed to be available to the public as early as March 2012. The device uses a cold laser and somehow measures blood viscosity, he was skeptical to accuracy and tested against his meter at two different times, one was the same reading the other was out by 0.1 mmol/l.
I have been searching for the past hour online and haven’t come across any information, is anyone else familiar with this device or any manufacturers?
I had heard of a laser for this purpose years ago but I do not know if it went past the idea or prototype. I remember thinking that laser can damage human tissue so wouldn’t it do the same to finger tip tissue as a normal lancet does? Perhaps they have improved it.
Previous attempts to market this kind of research, 20 years ago, by a company called Futrex, called the device the “Dream Beam”.
It seems likely that Futrex’s device never works and I’m told that the US SEC charged Futrex with fraud:
The complaint alleges that in connection with both the private placement and the IPO, Futrex and Rosenthal stated
falsely that Futrex's hand-held "Dream Beam" analyzer could
measure and accurately predict a person's blood glucose level by
passing infrared light through a finger. However, neither the
Dream Beam nor any other infrared blood glucose analyzer tested
by Futrex has ever been capable of predicting blood glucose
levels accurately. The complaint further alleges that not one of
Futrex's top scientific and technical employees has ever reviewed
or analyzed any data that would support claims made by Rosenthal
and Futrex that the blood glucose analyzer, as configured by
Futrex, actually works.
I suspect that because of this past stain, that any companies moving ahead with this kind of research are doing it very painstakingly and make extra sure that no financial stuff gets strung out like dirty laundry :-)
Hmmm…here is one dated back to 1999-2000 but it is not by Abbott.
FDA Approves Home Use of Laser for Diabetes
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a laser device that people with diabetes can use in place of the traditional lancet to draw blood for monitoring blood sugar.
The device, which is manufactured by Cell Robotics Inc. of Albuquerque, New Mexico, is called the Lasette. It is a portable, battery-operated device that uses a YAG laser to pierce the skin, a nearly painless means of drawing blood for glucose testing. The device can be used in the home after patients have received a prescription and instruction from their health care provider.
Currently, many people with diabetes must prick their fingers with a lancet once or twice a day to monitor blood sugar levels. This can be especially difficult for children.
According to the FDA, "Clinical testing has shown that adequately trained patients can perform finger pinpricks with the laser device as easily and accurately as with lancets."
It sounded interesting but at the same time it seems like a conflict of interest for Abbott as they make a nice income stream from test strips of their current glucose meters. The CDE also mentioned that the price tag that he heard mentioned was around $500 per unit. I will have to track down some more information from the CDE, I didn’t go into too many details at the time because I just assumed there would be all kinds of articles to go through at home online.
Cold laser? Interesting. I’ll be looking that one up.
$500. was the cost of typical blood glucose meters many years ago. My first meter was $250. but I received it at no cost since I did a trial on it and only had to answer a few questions over the phone.
