Airport security scanners may be damaging diabetes devices despite multiple safeguards put in place by manufacturers, clinicians and airport administration, US experts warn.
“It is probable that on any given day, large numbers of travellers subject their insulin pumps and /or CGM [continuous glucose monitoring] devices to X-ray and full-body machines, and some may unknowingly experience mild (or worse) malfunctioning as a result,” wrote Doctors Andrew Cornish and Peter Chase in Diabetes Technology and Therapeutics.
“Awareness is thus paramount, and it is the responsibility of diabetes care providers to increase this awareness in their patients,” they said.
The researchers from the University of Colorado, Denver had recently encountered a 16-year-old girl with type 1 diabetes who had been compelled to take her insulin pump through a full-body scanner despite presenting airport security guards with a doctor’s note informing them that she had the pump and requesting a pat down, in line with Transportation Security Administration (TSA) guidelines.
Taking no chances, the pump manufacturer Animas advised the patient to disconnect the device, saying they could not guarantee it had not been damaged.
Though there is “scant” research on the impact of imaging technology on pumps and CGM devices the researchers advised patients should be aware of the potential dangers and carry an airport information card supplied by their device manufacturer or clinician while travelling.
The authors also warned of the effects of hypo- and hyperbaric pressure conditions on insulin delivery.
Recent studies have found hypobaric conditions led to an average increased insulin delivery of 0.623% of the cartridge volume, and lower CGM readings during hyperbaric conditions.
“It is a new challenge to make sure patients are adequately informed of the possible problem before travelling,’ Doctors Cornish and Chase wrote.
Diabetes Technology and Therapeutics 2012
Airport security scanners may be damaging diabetes devices despite multiple safeguards put in place by manufacturers, clinicians and airport administration, US experts warn.
“It is probable that on any given day, large numbers of travellers subject their insulin pumps and /or CGM [continuous glucose monitoring] devices to X-ray and full-body machines, and some may unknowingly experience mild (or worse) malfunctioning as a result,” wrote Doctors Andrew Cornish and Peter Chase in Diabetes Technology and Therapeutics.
“Awareness is thus paramount, and it is the responsibility of diabetes care providers to increase this awareness in their patients,” they said.
The researchers from the University of Colorado, Denver had recently encountered a 16-year-old girl with type 1 diabetes who had been compelled to take her...