Pen needle design influences ease of insertion, pain, and skin trauma in subjects with type 2 diabetes.

Objective: Pen needles used for subcutaneous injections have gradually become shorter, thinner and more thin walled, and thereby less robust to patient reuse. Thus, different needle sizes, alternative tip designs and needles resembling reuse were tested to explore how needle design influences ease of insertion, pain and skin trauma.

Research Design And Methods: 30 subjects with injection-treated type 2 diabetes and body mass index 25-35 kg/m were included in the single-blinded study.

Injection Technique and Pen Needle Design Affect Leakage From Skin After Subcutaneous Injections.

Background: After a subcutaneous injection fluid might leak out of the skin, commonly referred to as leakage or backflow. The objective was to examine the influence of needle design and injection technique on leakage after injections in the subcutaneous tissue of humans and pigs.

Method: Leakage data were obtained from a post hoc analysis of clinical trial data and from a pig study.

Skin blood perfusion and cellular response to insertion of insulin pen needles with different diameters.

Today most research on pen needle design revolves around pain perception statements through clinical trials, but these are both costly, timely, and require high sample sizes. The purpose of this study was to test if tissue damage, caused by different types of needles, can be assessed by evaluating skin blood perfusion response around needle insertion sites. Three common sized pen needles of 28G, 30G, and 32G as well as hooked 32G needles, were inserted into the neck skin of pigs and then removed.