Lipodystrophic diabetes treated with fenfluramine.

Congenital generalized lipodystrophy is considered to be a diencephalic syndrome with disturbance of hypothalamic transmitters. After puberty and arrest of growth the patients develop a serious untreatable diabetes mellitus. One of our patients, a girl 15 years of age, developed a lipodystrophic diabetes with fasting blood glucose levels above 300 mg/100 ml, increased serum insulin with insulin resistance, and hyperlipidaemia. Daily administration of fenfluramine gave a dramatic improvement. The voracious hunger and profuse perspiration were reduced, the patient's serum lipids became normal, her blood glucose fell, and her sensitivity to exogenous insulin increased. A normalization of the urinary excretion of the serotonin metabolite, 5-OH-indole acetic acid, was observed.