Complications in Treatment of Lipodystrophies

In this segment, the panelists continue the discussion about lipodystrophies and examine various treatment-associated complications.

Elaine Cochran, MSN, CRNP, says there is one complication that can cause more problems than others.

“One of the most severe complications, even across all the ages is going to be hepatic steatosis which can lead to fibrosis in the liver and then that can lead to end stage liver disease,” she says.

Cochran notes that one surprising aspect of these complications is that they can happen in patients of all ages. Other complications she mentions include insulin resistance and hypertriglyceridemia.

Moderator Abhimanyu Garg, MD, adds that severe diabetes can be another issue the patients will have to deal with.

“Some of them will develop retinopathy and blindness due to that,” he notes. “Some of them have acquired renal transplantation because they developed end stage renal disease related to diabetic nephropathy,” he says.