Clinical application of real-time continuous glucose monitoring system during postoperative enteral nutrition therapy in esophageal cancer patients.

Abstract

Enteral nutrition (EN) support therapy increases the risk of abnormal blood glucose (BG). The aim of this study is to evaluate the clinical value of a real-time continuous glucose monitoring (rt-CGM) system in BG monitoring during postoperative EN support therapy in patients with esophageal cancer. Patients without diabetes mellitus (DM) with esophageal cancer who planned to receive postoperative EN were enrolled. With the self-monitoring of BG value as the reference BG, the accuracy of rt-CGM was evaluated by the mean absolute relative difference (MARD) value, correlation efficient, agreement analysis, and Parkes and Clarke error grid plot. Finally, paired t tests were used to compare the differences in glucose fluctuations between EN and non-EN days and slow and fast days. The total MARD value of the rt-CGM system was 13.53%. There was a high correlation between interstitial glucose and fingertip capillary BG (consistency correlation efficient = 0.884 [95% confidence interval, 0.874-0.894]). Results of 15/15%, 20/20%, 30/30% agreement analysis were 58.51%, 84.71%, and 99.65%, respectively. The Parkes and Clarke error grid showed that the proportion of the A and B regions were 100% and 99.94%, respectively. The glucose fluctuations on EN days vs non-EN days and on fast days vs slow days were large, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.001). The rt-CGM system achieved clinical accuracy and can be used as a new option for glucose monitoring during postoperative EN therapy. The magnitude of glucose fluctuation during EN therapy remains large, even in the postoperative population without DM.