Clinical usefulness of an enzyme strip for estimation of blood sugar ("Dextrostix") in a tropical medical practice: a 10-year experience.

A series of studies were carried out to assess the usefulness and accuracy of measuring blood sugar levels in a tropical medical practice using an enzyme test strip ("Dextrostix"). The results showed that the method is simple, accurate and reproducible, especially when the colour changes on the strips are interpreted electronically by the reflectance meter or Eyetone instrument. The results are independent of packed cell volume. Sequestrene-containing blood samples maintain a constant level of glucose for 5 hours. The Eyetone can be used for approximate determination of blood glucose levels greater than 400 mg per 100 ml by exposing the strips to blood for only 30 seconds and multiplying the result by two. Where there is no mains supply, the instrument can be operated from a car battery.