Diabetic neuropathic cachexia and acute bilateral cataract formation following rapid glycaemic control in a newly diagnosed Type 1 diabetic patient

K. C.J. Yuen, J. L. Day, D. W. Flannagan, Gerry Rayman

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

In patients with Type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM), the development of complications within the first few years of diagnosis is very unusual and the development of complications within weeks of commencement of insulin therapy is exceptional. Diabetic neuropathic cachexia, unlike the other more common neuropathies associated with diabetes, is a rare form of peripheral neuropathy characterized by profound weight loss, painful dysaesthesias over the limbs and trunk with spontaneous resolution usually occurring within a year. The morphologically distinct diabetic or metabolic cataract in patients with newly diagnosed Type 1 DM is also a rare complication. We describe the first case of a young man with newly diagnosed Type 1 DM who developed these two rare complications within 3 months of diagnosis and insulin therapy commencement. Rapid development of complications in this patient raises two possibilities, i.e. a probable link between the pathophysiology of these two complications following rapid glycaemic control, and a subset of patients with unusual susceptibility to complications. We re-emphasize the need for vigilant monitoring of complications in young diabetic patients, even in the first few years of their disease. In particular, young patients with visual impairment should be evaluated carefully for evidence of treatable eye complications.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)854-857
Number of pages4
JournalDiabetic Medicine
Volume18
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - 2001

Keywords

  • Cataract
  • Diabetic complications
  • Diabetic neuropathic cachexia
  • Type 1 diabetes mellitus

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Internal Medicine
  • Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
  • Endocrinology

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