Iatrogenic kwashiorkor developing after bypass surgery

Kwashiorkor after gastric bypass

Gastric bypass has grown in popularity in recent years due to its high efficacy in achieving long-term weight loss in patients with morbid obesity. Gastric bypass has been described to further exacerbate baseline nutritional deficiencies due to reduced gastric capacity and malabsorption. In rare cases, when protein deficiency is severe, Kwashiorkor disease may arise. The incidence of Kwashiorkor specifically following gastric bypass is rare, with an incidence of 4.7%. We report a case of a female patient who underwent a gastric bypass and subsequently developed Kwashiorkor. Physicians' suspicion of index for Kwashiorkor should be high for patients presenting with signs or symptoms of severe malnutrition following weight-loss procedures.

[Adult kwashiorkor: a rare complication of bariatric surgery]

INTRODUCTION

Kwashiorkor is a clinical manifestation of global protein-calorie malnutrition that is described mainly in children in developing countries initially presenting eczema-like skin disease associated with hydrops.

OBSERVATION

We report the case of a 44-year-old woman with dark skin who had undergone bariatric surgery for treatment of stage-III obesity without regular monitoring and who was hospitalized in our dermatology department four years later. She had diffuse oedema and asteatotic eczema-like cutaneous lesions on pigmented skin that had developed for two months despite daily application of topical corticosteroids. Clinical signs, the collapse of serum albumin and histopathological analysis of skin tissue were evocative of kwashiorkor. Her symptoms subsided after several weeks of a nutritional programme.

DISCUSSION

Kwashiorkor is a clinical entity described chiefly in children in developing countries. Cutaneous involvement comprising asteatotic eczema-like skin associated with diffuse oedema is prominent. Treatment with protein supplementation alone is effective and avoids many complications such as infections and haemodynamic disorders. Obesity is a serious and common disease in Western countries affecting one third of the world's population, and for which treatment with bariatric surgery may be indicated. Without regular monitoring, this surgery can cause severe protein deficiency. Consequently, in the future there will seemingly be a greater likelihood of kwashiorkor in adults as an iatrogenic complication of obesity treatment. Its semiology needs to be underlined because of the simplicity and efficacy of treatment.