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Updated: Apr 28, 2026

Biochemical Titration of Glycogen In vitro
Published on: November 25, 2013
Glycogen storage disease in adults
G M Talente1, R A Coleman, C Alter
1University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Objective:
To identify complications amenable to prevention in adults with glycogen storage disease (GSD) types Ia, Ib, and III and to determine the effect of the disease on social factors.
Design:
Case series and clinical review.
Setting:
Referral medical centers in the United States and Canada.
Patients:
All patients with GSD-Ia (37 patients), GSD-Ib (5 patients), and GSD-III (9 patients) who were 18 years of age or older.
Measurements:
Ultrasound or radiographic studies identified liver adenomas, nephrocalcinosis, or kidney stones. Radiographic studies identified osteopenia. Reports of the clinical examination, serum chemistry results, and social data were obtained.
Results:
For patients with GSD-Ia, problems included short stature (90%), hepatomegaly (100%), hepatic adenomas (75%), anemia (81%), proteinuria or microalbuminuria (67%), kidney calcifications (65%), osteopenia or fractures or both (27%), increased alkaline phosphatase (61%) and gamma-glutamyltransferase (93%) activities, and increased serum cholesterol (76%) and triglyceride (100%) levels. Hyperuricemia was frequent (89%). Patients with GSD-Ib had severe recurrent bacterial infections and gingivitis. In patients with GSD-III, 67% (6 of 9) had increased creatinine kinase activity. Four of these patients had myopathy and cardiomyopathy.
Conclusions:
For GSD-Ia, hyperuricemia and pyelonephritis should be treated to prevent nephrocalcinosis and additional renal damage. For GSD-Ib, granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor may prevent bacterial infections. For GSD-III, more data are required to determine whether the myopathy and cardiomyopathy can be prevented. Most of the patients with GSD-I and GSD-III had 12 or more years of education and were either currently in school or employed.
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