Editorial
Copyright ©2014 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. Jun 15, 2014; 5(3): 230-234
Published online Jun 15, 2014. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v5.i3.230
Short acting insulin analogues in intensive care unit patients
Federico Bilotta, Carolina Guerra, Rafael Badenes, Simona Lolli, Giovanni Rosa
Federico Bilotta, Carolina Guerra, Rafael Badenes, Simona Lolli, Giovanni Rosa, Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, Section of Neurosurgery, “Sapienza” University of Rome, 00185 Roma, Italy
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to this work.
Correspondence to: Federico Bilotta, MD, Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, Section of Neurosurgery, “Sapienza” University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5, 00185 Roma, Italy. bilotta@tisscali.it
Telephone: +39-6-8608273 Fax: +39-6-8608273
Received: December 6, 2013
Revised: March 17, 2014
Accepted: April 11, 2014
Published online: June 15, 2014
Processing time: 192 Days and 12.8 Hours
Abstract

Blood glucose control in intensive care unit (ICU) patients, addressed to actively maintain blood glucose concentration within defined thresholds, is based on two major therapeutic interventions: to supply an adequate calories load and, when necessary, to continuously infuse insulin titrated to patients needs: intensive insulin therapy (IIT). Short acting insulin analogues (SAIA) have been synthesized to improve the chronic treatment of patients with diabetes but, because of the pharmacokinetic characteristics that include shorter on-set and off-set, they can be effectively used also in ICU patients and have the potential to be associated with a more limited risk of inducing episodes of iatrogenic hypoglycemia. Medical therapies carry an intrinsic risk for collateral effects; this can be more harmful in patients with unstable clinical conditions like ICU patients. To minimize these risks, the use of short acting drugs in ICU patients have gained a progressively larger room in ICU and now pharmaceutical companies and researchers design drugs dedicated to this subset of medical practice. In this article we report the rationale of using short acting drugs in ICU patients (i.e., sedation and treatment of arterial hypertension) and we also describe SAIA and their therapeutic use in ICU with the potential to minimize iatrogenic hypoglycemia related to IIT. The pharmacodynamic and pharmachokinetic characteristics of SAIA will be also discussed.

Keywords: Insulin analogues; Short acting drugs; Intensive insulin therapy; Glycemia management; Intensive care

Core tip: In this article we report the rationale of using short acting drugs in intensive care unit (ICU) patients (i.e., sedation and treatment of arterial hypertension) and we also describe short acting insulin analogues (SAIA) and their pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic profile. SAIA have been synthesized to improve the chronic treatment of patients with diabetes but, because of the PK characteristics that include shorter onset and offset, they can be effectively used also in ICU patients and have the potential to be associated with a more limited risk of inducing episodes of iatrogenic hypoglycemia.