December 13, 2002
Other Illnesses
Question from Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA:
My 15 year old son, who has had type 1 diabetes for about three years, has been complaining of right quadrant pain of stomachaches almost on a daily basis. The endocrinologist agreed that we should make an appointment with a pediatric gastroenterologist so we did.
They did a gastric emptying study which I was told that he was barely within the normal limits, but that he did pass it, and his stool sample came back negative. The ultrasound of gallbladder, liver, spleen and pancreas were all okay except hat something showed on his liver. I was told that the ultrasonic echo sound wave was faster on part of his liver than the rest. I took him to have blood work done to check creatinine because now they are going to do a CAT scan. I was told that it may not be nothing because a fatty liver is common in people with diabetes.
How common is a fatty liver is common in people with diabetes? Can it lead to anything serious? What else associated with liver could be caused by type 1 diabetes in a child? They also want to rule out previous scarring of liver. How does one get scarring of liver? Is there anything you can suggest that I ask for as far as tests or any questions I should be asking?
Answer:
Fatty liver is associated with chronic hyperglycemia and often associated with obesity, high lipid levels and type 2 diabetes. It’s pretty rare to be associated with type 1 diabetes. Has someone checked for celiac disease with a transglutaminase (blood) antibody test? Has someone done a liver biopsy? You should go back to the GI and diabetes team and ask these questions since you need to find out if there are any answers available. Adrenal antibodies, cortisol levels, thyroid antibodies and thyroid function testing should also be considered for the source of the abdominal pains.
SB
