Medical Student Research Forum Posters

Brain injury is the most serious and most extensively studied complication of pediatric DKA. Lifethreatening brain injury occurs in 0.5-1% of pediatric DKA episodes (1), however, more subtle injury occurs frequently, causing cognitive deficits that are detectable after even a single DKA episode. Similarly, renal failure is an infrequent consequence of DKA, however, recent data demonstrate that less severe acute kidney injury (AKI) occurs commonly (2). These data suggest that organ injuries during DKA may not occur as isolated events but instead reflect a form of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. Importantly, patterns of organ involvement in DKA largely mirror patterns of chronic organ dysfunction that are characteristic of T1D in adulthood. Data from other brain and kidney diseases suggests that inflammatory processes triggered during acute injury may persist chronically and contribute to long-term organ dysfunction. Understanding the processes leading to organ dysfunction during DKA in childhood therefore may have far-reaching implications, extending beyond the acute time frame associated with DKA.