Muscle capillary basement membrane thickness in lipoatrophic diabetes.

A 21 years old female patient with lipoatrophic diabetes, a distinct syndrome of insulin resistant diabetes mellitus, loss of subcutaneous fat, hepatosplenomegaly, hyperlipidemia, increased basal metabolic rate, subvalvular aortic stenosis and cystic bone lesions is described. She exhibited all clinical signs of diabetic microangiopathy. Quantitative estimation revealed severely thickened basement membranes of muscle capillaries. It is concluded that the extent of her microangiopathy is a consequence of her excessive metabolic abnormalities.