Lipoatrophic Diabetes

Abstract

IN THE preceding article¹a detailed case report of a 15-month-old Negro female with the prediabetic phase of lipoatrophic diabetes has been presented. Results of a variety of studies concerning her endocrine function and carbohydrate metabolism were presented and discussed. A characteristic feature of lipoatrophic diabetes is the disturbance in lipid metabolism which results in a generalized absence, or virtual absence, of subcutaneous adipose tissue. This lipoatrophy has been present in all reported patients with lipoatrophic diabetes^2-14and is essential to establishing this diagnosis. The lipoatrophy has been reported to appear insidiously during the first year of life,³from 12 to 14 years before the onset of the diabetes,^2,5,8and even after the appearance of the diabetes.⁴ Hyperlipemia has been present in all but two of the reported patients with this syndrome^2,10; the mechanism of the lipemia is not understood although various theories have