Table 1.

Glossary

Artificial pancreas	A device that uses glucose information, usually from a CGM, to determine the dosing of insulin, and in some cases glucagon, with the aim of regulating blood glucose levels. The drugs are typically infused into the subcutaneous tissue using insulin pumps and infusion sets.
Continuous glucose monitor	A device that uses a sensor implanted into the skin to measure the glucose in the interstitial fluid. This information is used to estimate the blood glucose level, typically by calibrating the device at intervals with blood glucose measurements. The sensors protrudes 31 cm into the subcutaneous tissue and use chemistry similar to that in glucometer strips. A transmitter connected to the sensor and adhered to the skin sends a wireless signal to a receiving device that displays and stores the estimated blood glucose values, typically every 5 min. The user can set alarms for glucose values above and below threshold values and for large rates of change.
Sensor-augmented pump therapy	A variant of continuous insulin infusion therapy (insulin pump therapy) for diabetes in which information from a continuous glucose monitor is used to inform decision making by the patient. In the United States no CGM is approved to replace capillary blood glucose measurement – the labeling of CGM devices specifies that are to be used for ‘tracking and trending’ purposes and that capillary blood glucose measurements should be used to guide therapy. However, the CGM alarms can be used to detect and deal with problems earlier than would be possible with intermittent BG testing and insulin doses can be adjusted for the blood glucose trajectory in addition to the absolute BG value.

BG, blood glucose; CGM, continuous glucose monitoring.