Recurrent ketoacidosis in acquired, total lipodystrophy (lipoatrophic diabetes)

The absence of ketoacidosis is thought to be characteristic of generalized lipoatrophic diabetes. It is widely believed that lipoatrophic diabetic patients are able to tolerate starvation and therapeutic insulin withdrawal, due to absence of subcutaneous body fat, the substrate essential for ketogenesis. In this article, we document nine episodes of acidosis and accelerated ketone body formation in a 24-yr-old woman whose deterioration followed episodes of dietary excesses without evidence of intercurrent infection or other identifiable forms of metabolic stress. Serum C-peptide measurements demonstrated that an absolute insulin deficiency did not exist. During short-term, experimental, dietary manipulations, excess dietary calories worsened the hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia but did not reproduce the ketoacidotic state. Excess fat added to the diet was the most poorly tolerated of the food groups, causing ketonuria, hypertriglyceridemia, and abdominal pain. Our experience with this patient suggests that increased food consumption, insufficient insulin relative to an insulin-resistant state, and increased amounts of insulin counterregulatory hormones (stress), acted in concert to cause acidosis and increased ketone body formation.