Muscle infarction in a young woman with brittle type 1 diabetes

We present the first case of muscle infarction in a 30-year-old woman who had a 5-year history of type 1 diabetes mellitus that was not complicated by nephropathy, retinopathy or neuropathy. All common causes of muscle infarction were excluded, particularly microangiopathy and a hypercoagulable state. The differential diagnosis included infection (pyomyositis, necrotic fasciitis), focal inflammatory myositis, vascular events, trauma, tumor and diabetic amyotrophy, all of which were excluded. In spite of good glycaemic control, her diabetes remained brittle; alternating states of transient acute hypoglycaemia and hyperglycaemia may have been responsible for the infarction. Brittleness resumed after treatment with subcutaneous insulin infusion using a portable pump. No recurrence of muscle infarction was observed during a 18-month follow-up.