Is there any CGM's that only require one injection site???
I assume you mean a CGM that doesn’t require you to wear a sensor in addition to a pump. Man, wouldn’t that be nice. Going to the beach and not looking like you just escaped from the ER? Toweling off after a shower without accidentally ripping off one of the sites because you forgot where you placed it this week? These are the small things I dream about as someone with T1D.
Unfortunately, single site CGM-pump technology does not currently exist. However, most companies invested in pump/CGM integrative devices (essentially the concept behind the artificial pancreas) are working on ways to make wearing both devices less burdensome. For example, while you still have to wear a CGM and an insulin catheter, Medtronic’s Enlite pump collects data from both sites and sends it to a single device, thereby eliminating the need to carry around a receiver like with Dexcom.
Yet Dexcom (incontrovertibly the most accurate and comfortable CGM system on the market) is working closely with several of the large pump companies (like Omnipod and Tandem) to combine their CGM technology with different insulin delivery systems. They are also working on an app that would eliminate the receiver and send your blood sugar data directly to your phone. These types of systems will be the next generation of diabetes care, and will probably start being released to market within the next few years.
Looking toward the future, encapsulation systems will be the next wave of life-changing technologies to come, and conceptually will eliminate the need for testing and injections altogether. The idea is that a small “packet” of insulin-producing beta cells will be implanted into the bodies of people with type1 diabetes using a simple, outpatient procedure, and these insulin cells will successfully regulate blood sugar levels for up to 24-months at a time.
Now that’s something worth dreaming about.
