Although much more rare than its diabetic counterpart, ketoacidosis secondary to alcohol withdrawal in the context of fasting has its own complex pathophysiology and can easily mimic the acute insulin deficiency presentation. We present here a rare case of a non-diabetic alcoholic patient who presented in ketoacidosis after a period of reduced intake.

Acute renal failure (ARF) is a serious condition which still carries a mortality of around 50%. People with diabetes may be at increased risk of developing ARF, either as a complication of diabetic ketoacidosis or hyperosmolar coma, increased incidence of cardiovascular disease, or due to increased susceptibility of the kidney to adverse effects in the presence of underlying diabetic renal dise...

This paper describes the clinical course of a young diabetic primigravida who presented to her physician with vomiting and abdominal pain. Despite the conventional doses of intravenous fluid and insulin that were used to treat her suspected diabetic ketoacidosis, she remained severely acidotic and developed increasing abdominal pain. Two hundred twenty units of regular insulin over a 5-hour per...

non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (niddm) is a common disease entity in patients with coronary artery disease (cad). diabetic ketoacidosis (dka) is not only one of the major complications of diabetes mellitus but also a significant challenging clinical entity for the patients undergoing any elective or emergency surgery. coronary artery bypass grafting (cabg) being done in a patient with ...

Diabetic ketoacidosis results from deficient insulin action and increased action of hormones such as catecholamines, glucagon, glucocorticoids, and growth hormone, which are produced during stress and which antagonize insulin's actions. Diabetic ketoacidosis is associated with a relatively high mortality rate. Treatment consists of appropriate fluid resuscitation, insulin infusion, adjustments ...

Over the 10 year period 1987-1996, 328 children with type 1 diabetes mellitus presented in the city of Birmingham, England, of whom 27% had diabetic ketoacidosis. Asian children under the age of 5 had an eightfold increased risk of presenting in diabetic ketoacidosis compared with non-Asian children of the same age.

Clinical evidence of cerebral oedema occurs in approximately 1% of diabetic ketoacidosis episodes. Mortality from this serious complication is falling, but little is known of long term outcome. We describe hypopituitarism and executive dysfunction developing two years after cerebral oedema complicating diabetic ketoacidosis in a 12 year old with type 1 diabetes.

December 2010, Vol. 100, No. 12 SAMJ Diabetic hyperglycaemic crisis is a major reason for high-care unit admissions,1 with mortality rates of up to 30%.2-9 It is characteristically classified as ketoacidotic or hyperosmolar.10 Presentations with the combination of ketoacidosis and hyperosmolality are recognised,6,7,11-16 and have variably been described as ketoacidosis with hyperosmolality or h...

A diagnosis of diabetic ketoacidosis requires the patient's plasma glucose concentration to be above 250 mg per dL (although it usually is much higher), the pH level to be less than 7.30, and the bicarbonate level to be 18 mEq per L or less. Beta-hydroxybutyrate is a better measurement of the degree of ketosis than serum ketones. Intravenous insulin and fluid replacement are the mainstays of th...

A chronic autoimmune destruction of the pancreatic beta cells results in decreasing endoge‐ nous insulin secretion and the clinical manifestation of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). The clinical onset of the disease is often acute in children and adolescents and diabetic ketoaci‐ dosis (DKA) is present in 20-74% of the patients [1-7]. DKA is a serious condition that re‐ quiring immediate interv...