A Case of Diabetic Ketoacidosis With Severe Hypertriglyceridemia and Slowly Resolving Metabolic Acidosis

Abstract

Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a critical metabolic complication observed in newly diagnosed cases of type 1 diabetes. Severe hypertriglyceridemia, diagnosed in this case, is a rare consequence of DKA. A six-year-old female child presented to the casualty with drowsiness, reduced oral acceptance, difficulty in breathing, hyperglycemia for the past four hours, and polyuria for the past two and a half months. On examination, tachypnea and Kussmaul breathing were present, and the patient was drowsy and confused with a Glasgow coma scale score of 12/15. Grossly lipemic serum was obtained during routine sampling with deranged international normalized ratio (INR), severe hypertriglyceridemia, and refractory metabolic acidosis. According to the International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD) guidelines 2023, maintenance fluids were administered intravenously as per blood sugar levels with potassium supplementation, including a deficit of 10%. Insulin was given intravenously at 0.1 IU/kg with a broad-spectrum antibiotic.