One of our providers [in Howard County] ran into a situation where he used an Accu-chek Advantage glucometer (pretty much standard issue here) on a altered LOC patient. It gave him what turned out to be a false normal blood glucose level. The patient in addition to being diabetic was also on peritoneal dialysis. After the call he did some internet research and found that certain types of peritoneal dialysis solution contain icodextrin. Icodextrin is a glucose polymer that is broken down into maltose in the body. The accumulation of blood maltose interacts with glucometers that are non glucose-specific and will give a falsely elevated glucose reading. These glucometers/test strips use a method called glucose dehydrogenase pyrroloquinoline quinine (GDH-PQQ) to measure whole blood glucose. All Accu-Chek models, not just the Advantage use the GDH-PQQ method. I also put some links to some articles for reference. Unbeknownst to us, the FDA actually recommended not using the Accu-chek meters altogether.
