Metabolism
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A hypoglycaemic adolescent with an enlarged liver and gout
AP is a 16 year old boy. As an infant he was liable to convulsions if he was not fed at regular intervals. He has a greatly enlarged liver, which is readily palpable. For the last year he has suffered increasingly from gout, with deposition of crystals of uric acid in joints.
The following results were obtained on blood samples taken after an overnight fast:
glucose (mmol /L) |
insulin (mU /mL) |
non-esterified fatty acids (mmol /L) |
|
| AP | 2.2 |
2.0 |
2.08 |
| 10 age-matched control subjects | 4.0 ± 0.16 |
9 ± 0.7 |
0.71 ± 0.08 |