Sensors, Vol. 23, Pages 8043: Impact of the Number of Needle Tip Bevels on the Exerted Forces and Energy in Insulin Pen Injections

Sensors, Vol. 23, Pages 8043: Impact of the Number of Needle Tip Bevels on the Exerted Forces and Energy in Insulin Pen Injections Sensors doi: 10.3390/s23198043 Authors: Alfonso Maria Ponsiglione Carlo Ricciardi Enzo Bonora Francesco Amato Maria Romano Patients affected with type 1 diabetes and a non-negligible number of patients with type 2 diabetes are insulin dependent. Both the injection technique and the choice of the most suitable needle are fundamental for allowing them to have a good injection experience. The needles may differ in several parameters, from the length and diameter, up to the forces required to perform the injection and to some geometrical parameters of the needle tip (e.g., number of facets or bevels). The aim of the research is to investigate whether an increased number of bevels could decrease forces and energy involved in the insertion–extraction cycle, thus potentially allowing patients to experience lower pain. Two needle variants, namely, 31 G × 5 mm and 32 G × 4 mm, are considered, and experimental tests are carried out to compare 3-bevels with 5-bevels needles for both the variants. The analysis of the forces and energy for both variants show that the needles with 5 bevels require a statistically significant lower drag or sliding force (p-value = 0.040 for the 31 G × 5 mm needle and p-value < 0.001 for 32 G × 4 mm), extraction force (p-value &am...
Source: Sensors - Category: Biotechnology Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: research