Side effects and indwelling times of subcutaneous catheters for insulin injections: a new device for injecting insulin with a minimum of pain in the treatment of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

For 2 months we observed side-effects and indwelling times when using a subcutaneous catheter (Insuflon, Viggo AB, Sweden) for insulin injections. This method is used by approximately 600 children and adolescents with IDDM in Sweden today. 22 children and adolescents aged 4-19 years with a diabetes duration of 4.0 +/- 3.0 (mean +/- SD) years participated. Their HbA1c was 5.8 +/- 1.0%. All used 4-6 dosages of insulin per day. The catheter was placed subcutaneously in the abdominal wall, and replaced by parents when home tests showed increased blood or urine glucose, when the child experienced pain or when skin changes were observed. The 22 patients used 239 catheters with a mean time between changing catheters of 4.8 +/- 2.2 (range 0.5-17) days (= 1147 catheter days). Noted side effects were (% of catheter days): fixation problems, 5.6%; minor infection/irritation (= redness greater than 1 mm), 5.6%; pain, 2.8%; sore skin from plastic wings, 2.4%; itching/dry skin, 2.0%; eczema from band-aid, 1.7%; blocked catheter/injection needle, 1.6%; leakage of insulin, 1.3%, transient lipohypertrophies, 1.1%; hematoma/blood in catheter, 0.8%, and moist skin, 0.3%. No major infections requiring surgical or antibiotic treatment occurred. In conclusion, the use of indwelling insulin catheters seems to be a safe method to lessen the pain of insulin injections with a low frequency of side effects. The long-term metabolic control was not altered in this group of well-controlled children. We therefore find that we can recommend the use of indwelling catheters to children and adolescents who have difficulties with injections because of needle phobia or pain, particularly when using MIT.