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Infusion sets

All about infusion sets: what's available, where to put them and how to insert them

Melissa Ford has provided an excellent guide to choosing infusion sets. Her article tells you EVERYTHING you need to know about choosing your set ... what this page does is bring together in one handy page comparable data about the different sets on offer. Also, it is written from a UK perspective, rather than a US perspective.

Most sets are luer-lock ("universal" connector) - Melissa's page explains this in detail: I have noted where a Paradigm version is available.

I have noted where different 'tube lengths' (i.e. distance from the site to the pump) and 'cannula lengths' (i.e. length of tube within the body) are available. If the length isn't right for you - Disetronic also make an extension tube, suitable for any luer pump / luer set.

Some manufacturers claim that their set enables you to see the site (as if there are other sets which have less visibility). I have noted where sets are particularly opaque, but have not looked at all of them in detail (if this is an issue for you, ask for samples).

Apologies for the use of both inches and mm for cannula lengths, and mm and gauge for needle widths - this is how the manufacturers present the information!

Websites/Contacts

These websites give further information and contact details for the manufacturers, brands and distributors of sets.

Accu-chek and Disetronic between them cover the Accu-Chek/Disetronic/Roche range.

Animas products are distributed by Advanced Therapeutics.

Deltec products including the Cleo do not currently (1st December 2006) have a UK distributor.

Minimed products

Unomedical manufacturer of Comfort, Quick-set, Inset, Contact and Basic.

Sets at a Glance

See also www.diabeteshealth.com for details of the sets available in the US.

To save space, I have only included the one name for each set - see 'sets in detail' below to find the various names for sets.

	Angle of insertion	Whanger?	Disconnects at:	Tube lengths	Cannula lengths	Visibility	Needle
Basic	30	no	disconnects at some point	23, 31 or 43 ins	14mm	Choose your own adhesion!	0.41mm (27G) (metal needle set)
Cleo	90	'withdrawer', integral to set	site	21 or 34 ins	9mm and 6mm	White fabric masks visibility	28g intro needle, 25g cannula
Comfort	20 to 45	only for silhouette	site	23, 31 or 43 ins	17mm and 13mm	White fabric masks visibility	0.68mm (27g) intro needle, ??? cannula
Contact	90	no	few cm from site	23, 31 or 43 ins	6mm, 8mm, 10mm	Needle insertion is not visible through the set, and white fabric masks visibility	0.41mm (27G) (metal needle set)
Flex-link	90	yes	site	30, 60, 80 and 110 mm	10mm and 8mm	White fabric masks visibility	??? intro needle, ??? cannula
Inset II	90	optional built-in whanger, which is more of a 'withdrawer'	site	23 and 43 ins	9mm and 6mm	Needle point of insertion slightly visible through set; white fabric masks visibility	0.68mm (26g) intro needle, 25g cannula
Quickset	90	mandatory	site	23 and 43 ins	9mm and 6mm	White fabric masks visibility	0.68mm (27g) intro needle, (25g) cannula
Rapid-d	90	no	few cm from site	24 and 43 ins	6, 8 and 10 mm	White fabric masks visibility	28g (metal needle set)
Sof-set	90	yes	few cm from site	61 and 107mm	9mm and 6mm	Clear adhesion	27g intro needle, 25g cannula

Sets in detail

Unomedical Basic / Disetronic Classic / Minimed Polyfin

(Paradigm version available).

Inserts at 30 degrees. Has to be hand inserted.
A metal cannula is moulded to the cannula - no glue (can be preferred by those with allergies).
Available with or without adhesive 'butterfly' - or add your own adhesive tape of choice (again, can be an advantage for those with allergies).
No choice of lengths.
Can be detached (I think with a dangly bit - see Sofset and Rapid D, but have not seen one to confirm this).

Deltec Cleo

Inserts at 90 degrees
Disconnects at site
Does not have a 'whanger', but has an integrated needle-withdrawer, which acts as a guide to insertion. The tube is separate, but attached after insertion. The integrated bit is very sturdy, and a nice purple colour.
Comes in a variety of tube lengths.
Comes in a standard cannula length (9mm) and a shorter length (6mm) which may be of use to those with less body fat.
Tube attaches to the site from any angle, not just one.
Available in the UK from December 2006.

Unomedical (manufacturer) Chronimed Comfort / Medtronic Silhouette / Disetronic Tender / Deltec Essential

(Paradigm version available).

Inserts at 20 to 45 degrees
Whanger available (Silhouette only)
Disconnects at site
Comes in a variety of tube lengths
Liked by a lot of users.
Comfort and Tenders come in standard (17mm) cannula length and a shorter length (13mm) which may be of use to those with less body fat.
White fabric adhesion: site not visible under it.

Unomedical Contact / Minimed Easyset

Inserts at 90 degrees
Manual insertion only.
Disconnects a few cm away from the site (leaving a dangly bit, disliked by some users, but may be preferred by those with poor eyesight and/or poor manual dexterity).
Comes in a variety of tube lengths.
A metal cannula (can be preferred by those with allergies) - comes in 6, 8 and 10mm lengths. Needle is 0.41mm (27G)
Insertion site not visible through the set.
White fabric adhesion: site not visible under it.

Disetronic / Accu-check Flex-link ("Ultraflex" in the USA)

Inserts at 90 degrees
Optional whanger
Disconnects at site
Comes in a variety of tube lengths (apparently the tubing is 'unique' implying that it's unique in that it 'won't kink' - others I've tried have not kinked, either). It is a very clear, shiny tube. It appears to me to be easier to see bubbles in this tube. But on the other hand, it isn't as discreet as the matte tubes.
White fabric adhesion: site not visible under it.

Unomedical Inset II (Supplied by Animas in the UK from February 2007)

Inserts at 90 degrees
Insertion by its integrated whanger (or optionally without).
Disconnects at site. Comes in a standard cannula length (9mm) and a shorter length (6mm) which may be of use to those with less body fat.
Only one tube length? It appears to be the 'unique' very clear, shiny tube of the Accu-check flex-link. It appears to me to be easier to see bubbles in this tube. But on the other hand, it isn't as discrete as the matte tubes.
Comes in various colours of packaging: grey, pink and blue available in the UK

Unomedical/Minimed Quickset

(Paradigm version available).

Inserts at 90 degrees
Whanger available (and, indeed, must be used: hand insertion is not recommended)
Disconnects at site
Comes in a variety of tube lengths
Has a needle protector for safe disposal
Can be difficult to insert properly - must be done standing up: users have experienced high rate of failure due to poor techniques or wrong kind of body.
White fabric adhesion: site not visible under it.

Disetronic/Accu-check Rapid-D

Inserts at 90 degrees
Manual insertion only.
Disconnects a few cm away from the site (leaving a dangly bit, disliked by some users, but may be preferred by those with poor eyesight and/or poor manual dexterity). Personally, I found the dangly bit, when used as a tape-stop, cut into me in an irritating way (the dangly bit on the sof-set didn't do this).
A metal cannula (can be preferred by those with allergies) - comes in 6, 8 and 10mm lengths.
Comes in a variety of tube lengths.
Manufacturer claims that at 28g, this is the finest needle (but none of the other sets give their size!).
Insertion site not visible through the set.
White fabric adhesion: site not visible under it.
Wins the Pat R prize for the most hard-to-follow instructions. Practice the removal of the tab on a set before you insert it (twist, don't 'snip' as they suggest!)

Minimed Sofset

(Paradigm version available).

Inserts at 90 degrees
Whanger available
Set has only a small adhesive part: additional tape/plastic needed to secure it (can be a help for those with allergies, or those who find some tapes stick better than others - but can be more 'fiddly').
Semi-transparent adhesion: somewhat visible under it.
Disconnects a few cm away from the site (leaving a dangly bit, disliked by some users, but may be preferred by those with poor eyesight and/or poor manual dexterity)
Comes in a variety of tube lengths.
Comes in a standard cannula length (9mm) and a shorter length (6mm) which may be of use to those with less body fat.

A word about irritation ...

You may be allergic to the components of sets, or their antibacterial agents, or their glues. If you like a particular set, but it irritates, you can use a barrier between your skin and the set: Tegaderm and Opsite are two of the brands/types ... others are available. Medtronic have an excellent set of notes about these called "Tape Tips".

Concluding remarks

There is now a bewildering variety of set types on the market. You may like to know that the most popular with long-term pump users. However it appears to some new users to be a bit scary. So many people prefer to start off with a 90 degree set.

New pumpers should be offered a range of sets to experiment with. You should expect to go home from hospital, having been shown and tried on a block of false-flesh with at least three sets: one oblique, one 90 degree, and one metal. You should be comfortable, from your practice, with using the serter or manual insertion that these sets require or allow. There is nothing morally wrong with using a serter (she says, using one herself). But those who insert manually do argue convincingly that manual insertion is better for your body. It is always possible to move from using a "whanger" to hand insertion at a later date, when you are more confident about sets.

Do not worry, as a new user, about whether you are leaving the hospital with the 'right' set for you. A good hospital will be expecting you to take an interest in your sets, and to work with them to find the type, size, and length that gives you the least amount of irritation, best control, and colour coordinates with your handbag. OK, no team is going to care about your handbag. And a lot of teams are quite happy to send new pumpers home having trained them on only one set (and worse, on just one set that is known to have a lot of failures....). Print out this page, or the websites of some sets that look to you to be the kind of thing you'd like to try.

Content compiled by: John Neale and Michael Robinton <michael@bizsystems.com> John Neale is not a medical professional. He has Type 1 diabetes and uses an insulin pump. Michael Robinton is not a medical professional. His daughter has Type 1 diabetes and uses an insulin pump. More about John Neale... More about Michael Robinton...

Created: March 2001; Last updated: Wednesday 6 December 2006

Other pages about infusion sets

Reader comments

On 18 Jan 2006 Dawn Sturman wrote:

I've been a type one diabetic for over two years now after having gestational diabetes when I was pregnant with my daughter. Poor control not only affected my general health and career but has affected my home life too. I have had the insulin pump for only over a week now and already feel better. My appetite has very much improved and I am not looking forward to putting some weight on again, its hard work but well worth it! I feel in control now and like I am getting my life back!!!!!!!!!
On 9 Nov 2004 Jade Hall wrote:

I'm a insulin pumper. I'm 16 and have many problems but I overcome them with help of friends and family. Diabetes made me ill but the pump gave me my life back.
On 14 Aug 2002 Simon Rafferty wrote:

I've been using a 508 pump for about six months now (and am very pleased with it overall). I also had a Grasby? pump about 10 years ago for a couple of years - but it was rubbish even then.

I bought my pump and consumables from Applied Medical, whose customer base has now been taken over by Medtronic themselves. This is fine in itself, but for two things. Firstly, they do not accept payment by credit card (important if you have to buy the stuff yourself) and secondly, they will not send out goods by Royal Mail, only by courier. This is fine if you live close to the couriers depot, but for me, if I miss the delivery (and I have to work sometimes), it means a 70 mile round trip to pick up the goods. This is starting to annoy me.

If anyone from Disetronic for example is listening, I would love to buy QuickSet (or your own branded equivalent) infusion sets from you if you are able to provide even as basic a service as this.

Medtronic seem a bit disinterested in my situation and even suggested that I move nearer to the courier.

If you live in the middle of nowhere, but with a fairly local post office, and cannot give an alternative delivery address, this might be worth considering when deciding what to buy.

Rant over!

Si
On 29 Dec 2001 Julian Woodley wrote:

I am new to pumping. I will not begin using mine until January 24 2002. Looking at all the infusion sets available I would prefer the Disetronic Tender (teflon) Can anyone tell me what gauge the insertion needle is. I'm really not happy about large needles or wearing an infusion set, let alone paying for it. However, if this is the route to a better quality of life, then the end justifies the means.
On 17 Oct 2001 Sam wrote:

Has anyone got any experience with a bra clip? I have an extremely active 1 year old son and I am worried that wearing the pump on a waist band will be too accessible by him!
On 30 Jun 2001 Hart wrote:

Is there any other pictures of person applying their infusion sets? I have been on my pump for 5 days now, yet I am still scared when I apply my set. Is there any step by step pictures or any other visuals?
- On 2 Jul 2001 John Neale wrote:
  
  Hart - inserting an infusion set is tricky: I was terrified as well. But the good news is that it becomes easier with experience.
  
  These are all the pictures we have, but do look on the Disetronic and MiniMed websites.
On 14 Feb 2001 Mo Degia wrote:

I would like to know if it is possible to have a pump and still lead an active life (football, squash) etc.?
- On 3 Mar 2001 John Neale wrote:
  
  Yes it is possible, Mo. The only potential problem is with "contact" sports. You need to take a little care to find a good place to keep your pump. Some people prefer to disconnect for the duration of the game, and top up with insulin every hour.