Patch Pumps: Periodic Insulin Delivery Patterns

Recent in vitro experiments with patch pumps (PP) Omnipod (OP), Omnipod DASH (OP-D), A6 TouchCare (A6), and Accu-Chek Solo (ACS) have observed periodic fluctuations in the delivered amount of insulin during basal rate and consecutive bolus delivery in some PP, calling for a more systematic characterization of these periodic delivery patterns. Here, it was found that during basal rate delivery of 1 U/h, some devices of OP, OP-D, and A6 showed deviations of up to & PLUSMN;30% from target delivery that consistently repeated every 5 hours, whereas ACS showed no clear periodicity with considerably lower deviations. Similar results were found during consecutive bolus delivery of 1 U, where deviations repeated consistently every five boluses in some devices of OP, OP-D, and A6. However, there was a large variability in the periodic delivery patterns between individual devices of the same PP model. Examining their pumping techniques indicated a connection between the insulin delivery mechanism and observed delivery patterns of the PP. However, the clinical impact of such patterns is unclear.

Automated summary

Recent in vitro experiments have observed periodic fluctuations in the delivered amount of insulin during basal rate and consecutive bolus delivery in some patch pumps, calling for a more systematic characterization of these patterns. Different devices of the same patch pump model showed variability in the periodic delivery patterns. There seems to be a connection between the insulin delivery mechanism and the observed delivery patterns of the patch pumps, but the clinical impact is still unclear.