Open AccessAn enigmatic triad of acute pancreatitis, diabetic ketoacidosis and hypertriglyceridaemia: who is the culprit?
Author(s) -
Umasankar Mathuram Thiyagarajan,
A. Ponnuswamy,
Alex Chung
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
bmj case reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.231
H-Index - 26
ISSN - 1757-790X
DOI - 10.1136/bcr-2016-217272
Subject(s) - culprit , medicine , diabetic ketoacidosis , acute pancreatitis , diabetes mellitus , pancreatitis , triad (sociology) , ketoacidosis , gastroenterology , intensive care medicine , endocrinology , type 1 diabetes , psychology , myocardial infarction , psychoanalysis
Acute pancreatitis(AP) is one of the common causes of acute abdomen and known to be associated with high morbidity and mortality in severe cases. Though most common causes of AP are cholelithiasis and alcoholism, it has also been reported in association with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). Triad of AP, hypertriglyceridaemia (HTG) and DKA is rare co-association and here the causal factor of AP is still not fully established. We report a case of AP in a DKA patient with recent diagnosis of hyperlipidaemia and diabetes. Usually AP has been associated with severe HTG; interestingly, our patient showed only moderate raise in triglycerides but still suffered AP during DKA. Hence, it raises question about the real culprit in this enigmatic triad.