Continuous glucose sensors for glycaemic control in the ICU: have we arrived?

Dr Blixt and colleagues show in an elegant pilot study that the continuous measurement of glucose in venous blood by microdialysis in a central venous catheter is feasible in critically ill patients. The performance of this type of continuous glucose monitoring device equals the performance of the commonly used handheld blood glucose meters. But are we, as ICU physicians and nurses, now ready to implement such continuous blood glucose sensors into the daily practice of the ICU? The only yardstick to this is "are these devices truly helping us ...in our critically ill patients".