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Case Reports
. 2019 Feb 17;11(2):e4086.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.4086.

Isolated Starvation Ketoacidosis: A Rare Cause of Severe Metabolic Acidosis Presenting with a pH Less than 7

Ateeq Mubarik  1 , Aamani Jupalli  1 , Arshad Muhammad Iqbal  1 , Salman Muddassir  1 , Abdulmagid Eddib  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Isolated Starvation Ketoacidosis: A Rare Cause of Severe Metabolic Acidosis Presenting with a pH Less than 7

Ateeq Mubarik et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Anion gap metabolic acidosis (AGMA) occurs when an anion gap exists along with metabolic acidosis, most commonly due to diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and lactic acidosis (LA). Isolated starvation ketoacidosis (ISK) is one of the rare causes of AGMA; however, it usually presents with a mild disturbance in pH. We report a rare case of a 45-year-old female with previously diagnosed squamous cell cancer (SCC) of the larynx. She presented to the emergency department complaining of difficulty in breathing following laryngectomy and tracheostomy for SCC. Her laboratory results on admission were consistent for isolated starvation ketoacidosis and the patient responded quickly to the appropriate treatment.

Keywords: agma; anion gap metabolic acidosis; isk; ketoacidosis; ketosis; metabolic acidosis; ph; starvation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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