1/21. Reversible amnesia in a Type 1 diabetic patient and bilateral hippocampal lesions on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). AIMS: Intensive insulin therapy of Type 1 diabetes limits its chronic complications, but is associated with an increased risk of severe hypoglycaemia and its neuroglycopenic consequences. methods: Case report. RESULTS: A 24-year-old male with 15 years' history of Type 1 diabetes, who was missing for 48 h, was found at home in ketoacidosis coma. intensive care permitted a rapid improvement revealing an unexpected severe anterograde amnesia, confirmed by neuropsychological testing. MRI performed 4 days after admission showed abnormal bilateral hyperintensity signals on T2-weighted images in the hippocampus. Three months later, the patient had nearly completely recovered and resumed work. MR images and neuropsychological testing returned to normal. CONCLUSIONS: The most likely course of events favours an initial prolonged hypoglycaemic coma following insulin overdose. The hippocampal injury may be a result of hypoglycaemia. Neuropsychological testing and MRI abnormalities were completely reversible. This case underlines the potential risks of intensive insulin therapy. ( info) |
2/21. A case report of warm weather accidental hypothermia. A case of hypothermia is presented as a reminder to "Deep South" physicians that our warm weather is not prophylaxis against this syndrome; and many common situations, diseases and medications contribute to and worsen the condition. diagnosis is made by obtaining a true core body temperature and effective treatment modalities can be easily applied. With appropriate rewarming, a search for complications and monitoring of patient progress a gratifying outcome should result for both patient and physician. ( info) |
| The authors report a case of severe hypoglycemic encephalopathy in an elderly patient. The magnetic resonance images showed bilateral cortical signal changes and basal ganglia lesions, which spared the thalami. The lesions were bright on fluid-attenuated inversion recovery and diffusion-weighted images and dark on the apparent diffusion coefficient map, being more conspicuous on the diffusion-weighted images than on the fluid-attenuated inversion recovery images. A literature review of the imaging features and pathophysiological mechanism in comparison with those of hypoxic ischemic injury is discussed. ( info) |
4/21. memory of insulin pumps and their record as a source of information about insulin therapy in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes. BACKGROUND: This study was designed to provide information regarding basal and bolus insulin dosage in children and adolescents using continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) and to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the CSII method in youths. patients AND methods: Data from 100 patients (1.6-18 years old) were collected during scheduled visits in an outpatient clinic. The mean duration of diabetes was 4.57 years (range 0.6-16 years), and mean duration of CSII therapy was 1.75 years (range 0.5-3.0 years). Each child had his or her insulin doses reviewed using the Medtronic MiniMed (Northridge, CA) Pumps&Meters software program. At each visit glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) values and growth parameters (weight and height) were assessed, and episodes of severe hypoglycemia and ketoacidosis were recorded. RESULTS: The mean HbA1c value in our study group was 7.63 /- 0.09% (range, 5.15-12.5%). Statistically significant better metabolic control was found in children under 10 years of age, in children with lower body mass index (r = 0.33), in patients with a lower contribution of basal insulin to the total daily dose (r = 0.35; P < 0.05), and in boys. Ten percent of participants skipped mealtime boluses, which correlated with their glycemic control; in those children HbA1c was 8.67 /- 0.57% (r = 0.34; P < 0.05). The mean total daily insulin was 0.79 /- 0.02 U/kg/day (range, 0.3-2.0 U/kg/day). Basal insulin constituted on average 35.6 /- 1.1% (5-70%) of the daily insulin dose. We found a statistically significant higher contribution of basal insulin dose in patients who missed mealtime boluses (r = 0.42; P < 0.05) and a significantly lower contribution in pre-pubertal children and in boys (P < 0.05). Around 7% of patients made mistakes in programming the basal insulin. CONCLUSIONS: CSII may be safely and efficiently used in children with type 1 diabetes in different age groups. This method of treatment requires regular visits to an outpatient clinic, proper education, and frequent revisions of the pump's memory. ( info) |
5/21. Unexplained deaths of type 1 diabetic patients. The suggestion of an increase in the number of sudden deaths of young people with Type 1 diabetes in the UK has been investigated. It was suggested that such deaths were due to hypoglycaemia and related to the increasing use of human insulin. In total we were notified of 50 deaths of people with Type 1 diabetes under age 50 years in the UK in 1989 which our informants (relatives, physicians, and pathologists) considered sudden and unexpected. An autopsy had been done in all cases and we supplemented this with detailed clinical information from relatives and case records. Of the 50 cases we excluded five with a definite cause of death, 11 suicides or self-poisonings, six cases of ketoacidosis, and four in which there was insufficient information about the circumstances of death to drawn any conclusions. Of the other 24 cases, two patients had been found with irreversible hypoglycaemic brain damage and died after a period of artificial ventilation. The most puzzling group were 22, aged 12-43 years, most of whom had gone to bed in apparently good health and been found dead in the morning. Nineteen of the 22 were sleeping alone at the time of death and 20 were found lying in an undisturbed bed. Most had uncomplicated diabetes and in none were anatomical lesions found at autopsy. There are major difficulties in diagnosing hypoglycaemia post-mortem, but the timing of death and other circumstantial evidence suggests that hypoglycaemia or a hypoglycaemia-associated event was responsible. All patients were taking human insulin at the time of death but most had been changed from animal insulin between 6 months and 2 years earlier and there was nothing to implicate the species of insulin as a factor in these deaths. ( info) |
6/21. Reversible decerebrate posturing after profound and prolonged hypoglycemia. Decerebrate rigidity is one of several reversible neurological abnormalities which have been observed in the setting of metabolic coma. We present the case of a patient who recovered fully from prolonged decerebrate rigidity associated with hypoglycemic coma. This case emphasizes the possibility of recovery from severe, prolonged hypoglycemia. ( info) |
7/21. insulinoma complicating pregnancy presenting with hypoglycemic coma after delivery: a case report and review of the literature. The incidence of insulinoma in pregnancy is unknown. All of the eight previously reported cases presented in the first trimester with hypoglycemic episodes. We report a case of a 24-year-old multigravida who presented with hypoglycemic coma after delivery. We discuss the possible protective role of pregnancy counter-regulatory hormones in keeping the patient asymptomatic until delivery, and present the difficulties in both diagnosis and differential diagnosis of insulinoma in the peripartum period. Chronic hypoglycemia in pregnancy has been associated with intrauterine growth retardation and increased perinatal mortality. However, this infant was at the 90th percentile for body weight, suggesting that asymptomatic maternal hypoglycemia had not been present during the gestation. insulinoma complicating pregnancy, though very rare, should now be included in the differential diagnosis of postpartum hypoglycemia. ( info) |
8/21. fetal heart rate in maternal hypoglycemic coma. In pregnancies complicated by diabetes mellitus fetal heart rate (FHR) monitoring is widely utilized to detect early fetal compromise. Never, however, was the fetal heart rate monitored during a maternal hypoglycemic coma. Such a case is here presented. ( info) |
9/21. Hypoglycaemia unawareness in diabetics transferred from beef/porcine insulin to human insulin. The case-histories of 3 patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) suggested that, after a switch from beef/porcine to human insulin, a given level of hypoglycaemia may cause less pronounced sympathoadrenal symptoms (tremor, sweating, &c), so that there is less warning of impending unconsciousness. This possibility was investigated by questioning of 176 IDDM patients who had switched from beef/porcine to human insulin with negligible change in dosage 1-48 months earlier. 66 (36%) said that their symptoms of hypoglycaemia had changed from those of sympathoadrenal activation to those of neuroglycopenia. This disadvantage of human insulin is an argument for continued availability of beef/porcine insulin. ( info) |
| cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) lactate and pyruvate concentrations were determined in 20 patients with diabetes mellitus but without disturbance of consciousness and five who recovered from hypoglycaemic coma. CSF lactate was slightly but significantly higher in diabetes mellitus (1.78, SEM 0.04 m mol/l) than that in 15 control subjects (1.40, SEM 0.05 m mol/l). In those who recovered from hypoglycaemic coma, CSF lactate was markedly elevated to 2.45-4.43 m mol/l. CSF glucose concentrations, however, were substantially the same between treated hypoglycaemic and diabetes mellitus groups. These findings indicate that CSF lactate levels increase with glycaemic levels in diabetes mellitus owing to enhanced glucose influx into glycolytic pathway of the brain, and also increases in treated hypoglycaemic coma probably due to mitochondrial dysfunction or damage. ( info) |