Integrated System Helps Consolidate Diabetes Management

A next generation system for diabetes management incorporates predictive alerts, helping patients control their glucose levels much more closely.

The MiniMed Paradigm REAL-Time Revel System is an integrated diabetes management system that includes Paradigm Revel insulin pump therapy, continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), and CareLink diabetes therapy-management software, a free online tool that helps diabetes patients and their healthcare providers analyze therapy and make adjustments through easy-to-read reports, charts, and graphs. The system incorporates other innovative CGM features, such as predictive trend alerts that can notify patients of rapid changes in glucose levels, helping patients take immediate corrective or preventative action, after reconfirming glucose levels with a fingerstick measurement.

New features in the insulin pump enable patients to tailor insulin delivery to meet their personal needs: patients who are sensitive to insulin (such as children with diabetes), have the opportunity to deliver insulin in smaller increments (0.025 units per hour.) In addition, diabetes type 2 patients--often more insulin resistant--can more tightly control their glucose levels using the new 1:1 carbohydrate ratio. The system also enables patients to set up missed meal bolus reminders. Several new CGM features, such as rate of change alerts, provide earlier warnings of potential glycemic excursions to help patients stay in their target range. The MiniMed Paradigm REAL-Time Revel System is a product of Medtronic (Minneapolis, MN, USA), and has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

"Medtronic is extending its lead in the path towards the artificial pancreas with this next generation integrated system and our ongoing advancements in algorithm development,” said Katie Szyman, president of diabetes business and senior vice president at Medtronic. "The MiniMed Paradigm Revel System can help a patient feel more secure by giving early warning of one of their greatest concerns, hypoglycemia, while continuing to simplify the complexity of diabetes management with easy-to-use features.”

"Recent clinical evidence clearly supports that insulin pump therapy combined with continuous glucose monitoring improves patients' A1C while reducing the relative risk of severe hypoglycemia,” said William Tamborlane, M.D., a professor of pediatrics and chief of pediatric endocrinology at Yale University School of Medicine (New Haven, CT, USA). "Advances such as predictive alerts and smaller basal delivery rates can help physicians and patients customize therapy to meet individual needs. This ultimately simplifies some of the complexity of daily diabetes management.”

The hemoglobin average glucose control (A1c) test is a measure of blood sugar control over period of 2 to 3 months, performed in addition to daily blood sugar testing. A person without diabetes would typically have a hemoglobin A1c test of around 5%; those with type 1 diabetes can have an A1c test result that is much higher, upwards of 25% if their diabetes management is poor. Ideally, the goal is to have an A1c test below 7%. A result of 8% or more is a sign that changes need to be made to manage glucose levels better.

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