Insulin-Infusion-Pump Treatment of Diabetes

Abstract

We examined whether changes in somatomedin accompany those seen in glucose and growth hormone during treatment with the insulin-infusion pump. Somatomedin levels in eight insulin-dependent diabetics (13 to 29 years of age) were measured before and after 16 weeks of outpatient insulin-pump treatment, which lowered mean glucose from 245±21 to 100±5 mg per deciliter and total glycosylated hemoglobin from 16.2±1.2 to 9.7±0.3 per cent (mean ±S.E.M.). During conventional insulin therapy, both total somatomedin and somatomedin C were within the normal range, despite elevations in growth hormone. Pump treatment resulted in a 70 to 75 per cent increase in both total somatomedin and somatomedin C (P<0.05) and a fall in growth-hormone concentrations. In the two growing adolescents, growth velocity doubled during 13 to 15 months of pump treatment.