[Treatment of unstable diabetes with a portable insulin-infusion pump (author's transl)].

A portable insulin-infusion pump (Promedos Siemens) was used in 19 patients with unstable or brittle diabetes. Continuous insulin supply was via the intravenous route in nine, subcutaneously in ten patients. The insulin pump was used in those patients in whom, after hospitalization for two to three weeks, the diabetes remained poorly controlled. In all patients the carbohydrate metabolism was normalised. Subcutaneous insulin infusion was as effective as the intravenous one. In all instances it was possible, partly by transferring insulin uptake during the day and night to two subcutaneous injections, to improve conventional control even after the infusion period was over. Continuous, regulated insulin supply - intravenously or subcutaneously - is superior to conventional subcutaneous administration. Portable insulin infusion pumps can be used in individual patients even without glucose sensing.