Editorial
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World J Diabetes. Jun 15, 2014; 5(3): 230-234
Published online Jun 15, 2014. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v5.i3.230
Short acting insulin analogues in intensive care unit patients
Federico Bilotta, Carolina Guerra, Rafael Badenes, Simona Lolli, Giovanni Rosa
Federico Bilotta, Carolina Guerra, Rafael Badenes, Simona Lolli, Giovanni Rosa, Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, Section of Neurosurgery, “Sapienza” University of Rome, 00185 Roma, Italy
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to this work.
Correspondence to: Federico Bilotta, MD, Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, Section of Neurosurgery, “Sapienza” University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5, 00185 Roma, Italy. bilotta@tisscali.it
Telephone: +39-6-8608273 Fax: +39-6-8608273
Received: December 6, 2013
Revised: March 17, 2014
Accepted: April 11, 2014
Published online: June 15, 2014
Processing time: 192 Days and 12.8 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: In this article we report the rationale of using short acting drugs in intensive care unit (ICU) patients (i.e., sedation and treatment of arterial hypertension) and we also describe short acting insulin analogues (SAIA) and their pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic profile. SAIA have been synthesized to improve the chronic treatment of patients with diabetes but, because of the PK characteristics that include shorter onset and offset, they can be effectively used also in ICU patients and have the potential to be associated with a more limited risk of inducing episodes of iatrogenic hypoglycemia.