A 3-year-old boy with ataxia.
Complications that arise secondary to functional malabsorptive conditions, such as short bowel syndrome, can present with a wide variety of symptoms. One in particular, D-lactic acidosis, causes a neurologic syndrome characterized by altered mental status, slurred speech, and ataxia, typically after a large carbohydrate meal. The neurologic deterioration can mimic inebriation and has therefore been dually named D-lactate encephalopathy. We present a case of D-lactic acidosis in a 3-year-old patient with short bowel syndrome. Although relatively rare, physicians must remain vigilant in their clinical suspicion of this syndrome whenever neurologic symptoms develop in patients with functional malabsorptive conditions.
From the Division of Emergency Medicine, Carman and Ann Adams Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Michigan, Detroit, MI.
Brian
B
Park
Utkarsh
U
Fichadia
Ami
A
Shah
D000140:Acidosis, Lactic / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism; D001259:Ataxia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine; D008297:Male; D012778:Short Bowel Syndrome / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
D019344:Lactic Acid