Injection Therapy

As I will be talking a lot about the management of injectable medication issues in my next few blogs, I thought I would quickly define some terminology that is used on the LaunchRock site and that helps further define and clarify the clinical need for Visual Medical's Tartoos!


Quick Tutorial:

Injection site- place on the body where an injection is given

Injection site rotation- Choosing a different area of the body each and every time an injection is given- with some medications (insulin, blood thinners), it is recommended that you rotate within the same general area of the body such as the abdomen, due to faster absorption rates

Disinfection of the injection site- Cleaning the skin before an injection is given to prevent infection

(Infection of injection site)

 

Lipohypertrophy- Scar tissue accumulation from repeatedly injecting and over use of one particular injection site

(Scar tissue accumulation due to lack of injection site rotation, this gentleman only injected immediately to the left and right of his naval for 30 plus years)

Although injection therapies have been proven to be highly effective in disease management when administered correctly; consistent care (rotation and disinfection) of the injection site is often compromised due to the challenges of injection site management and remembering where the last injection was placed on the body. With no way of knowing where the patient last injected, overuse of injection sites can easily happen leading to an irregular build-up of scar tissue called lipohypertrophy. Scar tissue accumulation (lipohypertrophy) occurs when patients repeatedly inject into the same site on the body. As skin tissue thickens, critical medication absorption decreases in an upwards of 25%, compromising medication efficacy leading to poor disease management, increases in hospitalization and mortality.[1] Among Type 1 Diabetics alone, lipohypertrophy occurs up to 48.8% in the patient population and in 28% of Type 2 Diabetics.[2]

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[1] Johansson et al., (2005). Impaired absorption of insulin as part from lipohypertrophic injection sites.

Diabetes Care, 28, 2025-2027. doi:10.2337/diacare.28.8.2025

[2]Vadar B., Kizilei S., (2007). Incidence of lipohypertrophy in diabetic patients a study of influencing factors.

Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice,77, 231-236.doi:10.1016/j.diabres.2006.12.023