Medical alert for insulin pump users issued
A medical alert warning users about the battery life of a specific insulin pump has been issued.
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency has released information for healthcare professionals so they can tell their patients about the updated advice.
New instructions for the Roche Accu-Chek Insight insulin pumps have been released which should help improve battery lifetime and prevent unexpected pump shut down or rapid battery depletion.
The urgent field notice said: “Choosing the wrong battery type during a change or use low-quality batteries can lead to a rapid power drop or a system shut off due to battery issues. In some cases, such a very rapid voltage drop can result in the pump not giving an alarm, which would normally happen and enable a clear and early detection of the low battery status and remind the user to change the battery.
“Such an undetected sudden shut- off of the insulin pump could potentially be followed by an equally undetected insulin underdelivery, particularly during night-time. Selecting the incorrect battery type (choose between Lithium or Alkaline) on the insulin pump may impact the detection of the remaining voltage, which can also lead to the above described issues, as lithium and alkaline batteries have different type-specific characteristics.
“As your patients’ safety is our top priority, we are further enhancing the handling instructions for the Accu- Chek Insight system and are informing users of the Accu-Chek Insight system to be aware of this topic. Using Energizer® Ultimate Lithium batteries (1.5V AAA / FR03) and following the steps described in the attached handling instructions will prevent the future occurrence of such battery issues and improve the battery lifetime.”
The newly released advice replaces an alert which was published in August 2015.
Included in the instructions, Roche has advised users increase the frequency of battery change from 30 days to 14 and has recommended patients use Energizer® Ultimate Lithium (FR03) batteries for optimum performance which have been successfully tested to work with the device.