Primary Hypertriglyceridemia FREE

Sir.—The article by Deckelbaum et al¹ on primary hypertriglyceridemia in childhood interests me because of our large experience of severe hypertriglyceridemia in adult patients.^2,3 The experience of my colleagues and me now extends to 184 patients, all 19 years or older with fasting plasma triglyceride levels greater than 1,000 mg/dL and 43% with levels greater than 2,000 mg/dL. None have shown the clinical feature of intermittent swelling of the limbs and scrotum. Deckelbaum et al¹ described the episodic abdominal pain, eruptive xanthomas, and hepatosplenomegaly at times when the triglyceride levels exceeded 2,000 mg/dL. The swelling of the scrotum could appear on its own, or with swelling and blueness of the legs. The uniqueness of this syndrome might be questioned in view of a case report by Simons et al.⁴

There are sufficient similarities between the two reports to warrant the following comparison (Deckelbaum and colleagues'