Severe combined hyperlipidaemia and retinal lipid infiltration in a patient with Type 2 diabetes mellitus

• Main Authors: Rae Derek, O'Neal David N, Favaloro Jenny M, Tebbutt Niall C, Davey Rachel A, Zajac Jeffrey D, Best James D
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2006-12-01
• Series: Lipids in Health and Disease
• Online Access: http://www.lipidworld.com/content/5/1/29

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Severe combined hyperlipidaemia has occasionally been associated with infiltration of tissues in addition to arteries and the skin. We report a woman with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and severe combined hyperlipidaemia who developed retinal lipid infiltration, resulting in blindness. A 61-year-old woman with a 15-year history of Type 2 DM was admitted following a two-week history of progressive visual loss. Examination identified lipid infiltration into the retina. Phenotypically she had severe combined hyperlipidaemia with elevated IDL cholesterol and a broad beta band on lipoprotein electrophoresis, raising the possibility of familial dysbetalipoproteinaemia. However, gene sequencing analysis indicated that the patient was homozygous for the E3/E3 allele of the ApoE gene with no mutations detected in either the coding region or intron-exon boundaries. Her lipid profile improved following dietary therapy and gemfibrozil treatment, but this had little effect on either her fundal appearances or her visual acuity. Type 2 DM plays a vital role both in allowing expression of severe combined hyperlipoproteinaemia, in addition to serving as a risk factor for complications such as tissue infiltration.</p>