A disposable short injection syringe is effective in insulin treatment, an expert said.

The short injection needle can increase patients’ treatment compliance and prevent complications such as fat hypertrophia because of reuse, he added.

Laurence Hirsch, vice president of BD Global’s diabetes medical affair division, made these and other points at a news conference in the Seoul Palace Hotel Thursday. BD Korea BD코리아, the company’s local offshoot, is marketing “BD Ultra-Fine Pen Needle” with a short injection syringe and other products.

BD Korea explains about the right use of insulin injection at a press conference in the Seoul Palace Hotel Thursday.

“The most common complication of insulin treatment is fat hypertrophia, which reduces insulin absorption and functions, making the treatment ineffective,” Hirsch said.

If doctors reuse insulin injections and patients get shots in same parts many times, the occurrence rate of fat hypertrophia increases, Hersch noted. “Patients like a 4-mm insulin injection used in clinical trials because there is less painful and has the same effect in controlling blood sugar as long needles do,” he said.

Also needed is education on how to use insulin injection correctly, Hirsch added.

BD Global has conducted Injection Technique Questionnaire (ITQ) survey on 13,289 people from 42 countries, including 180 Koreans. The result showed the negative responses about injection method were higher among Koreans than other countries.

Fat hypertrophia was also 42.5 percent here, 11.7 percent higher than the global average of 30.8 percent.

“The result showed people reused insulin injection syringes because they wanted to save costs and improve convenience,” Hirsch said. “Not a few patients have suffered from complications such as fat hypertrophia. The education to accurately use injection is necessary.”

According to the company, BD Ultra-Fine Pen Needle applied Easy Flow technology to improve drug flow by up to 149 percent against the existing syringes, reduced the power to push a pen button by up to 62 percent, and shortened time to inject drugs by up to 60 percent. As the end of the syringes is thin, it can also penetrate the skin easier than existing syringes, the company added.

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