Hypertriglyceridaemia-induced pancreatitis
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Natasha Weston; Upul Fernando; Varadarajan Baskar
- Source
- BMJ case reports. 2013
- Subject
- Male
Pathology
medicine.medical_specialty
Pediatrics
Diabetic ketoacidosis
Cardiovascular risk factors
Article
Pathogenesis
Diagnosis, Differential
Risk Factors
Diabetes mellitus
medicine
Humans
Pain Management
Hypertriglyceridemia
business.industry
Accident and emergency
nutritional and metabolic diseases
Secondary hypertriglyceridaemia
General Medicine
Middle Aged
medicine.disease
Pancreatitis
Acute pancreatitis
Fluid Therapy
business
- Language
- ISSN
- 1757-790X
Hypertriglyceridaemia is the third most common cause of acute pancreatitis but is relatively rare and therefore requires a high level of clinical suspicion to be diagnosed. We discuss the case of a 46-year-old man who initially presented to the accident and emergency department with suspected first presentation of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and a normal amylase but who did not respond to DKA treatment. Further history revealed significant cardiovascular risk factors, examination showed an evidence of hyperlipidaemia and investigations revealed acute pancreatitis secondary to hypertriglyceridaemia. We discuss the causes of hypertriglyceridaemia, the difficulty in differentiating primary versus secondary hypertriglyceridaemia, possible pathogenesis and current evidence-based treatments.