A Novel and Easy Method to Locate and Remove First Approved Long-Term Implantable Glucose Sensors

Eversense is a long-term implantable continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system. Difficulty in locating and removing implanted sensors is one of the issues limiting its use. We propose using near-infrared (NIR) light to locate implanted glucose sensors. NIR light was used to locate implanted glucose sensors in 30 patients (age 18-62 years) with type 1 diabetes who use Eversense sensors for CGM. Duration of sensor implantation was 10-40 weeks (median 12 weeks). Out of 30 patients with type 1 diabetes, the NIR light located the implanted sensor in 24 patients (success rate 80%) within 5 s. Sensor implantation at the skin with tattoos and excessive freckles were two main reasons for failure to locate sensors using NIR. We report an innovative method to locate implanted glucose sensors in seconds, which would reduce the time significantly to remove the sensor.