Synonyms
Basic bolus therapy; NIS (near normoglycaemic insulin substitution); FIT (functional insulin therapy); intensified conventional insulin therapy; flexible insulin therapy; functional insulin therapy; continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion; CSII;
First author
The Austrian diabetologist Kinga Howorka described NIS (near-normoglycemic insulin substitution) in 1983. As this term was not 100% accurate, the term "functional insulin treatment" was used from around 1989 (Howorka 1996).
As early as 1963, the physician Arnold Kadish in Los Angeles developed the "Mill Hill Infusor", an insulin and glucagon pump with i.v. delivery. It still had the dimensions of a backpack and was not suitable for everyday use because of the risk of infection (Thomas 2010).
In the mid-1970s, researchers in the United Kingdom developed small syringe pumps that could deliver insulin or other medications s.c. at a constant rate.
At the beginning of the 1980s, special insulin pumps came onto the market in Germany, such as the CPI 9100 in 1980, which for the first time had a programmable basal rate.
The breakthrough came with the Hoechst Infusor MRSI with a 24-step basal rate. Initially, the programming of the basal rates still took place via an external programming device in the practice (Thomas 2010).
At the end of the 1990s, a pump was developed that offered various bolus options, had a direct connection to a blood glucose meter or could optionally be connected to continuous glucose monitoring: the CSII, which is still used today (Thomas 2010).