“Kwashiorkor-like” syndrome, associated with burning feet syndrome, in an adult male

Abstract

A kwashiorkor-like syndrome, associated with “burning feet,” is described in a forty-five year old Negro man, in whom, ten years after a gastrectomy for intractable duodenal ulcer, progressively severe diarrhea developed which resulted in pronounced protein depletion, affecting particularly the endocrine glands, with apparent decline in the trophic hormones. After all possible etiologies were considered, the patient was explored surgically and no abnormality was found. In the process of preparing for surgery the patient was given a large quantity of plasma protein, including 20 units of plasma, and apparently as a result of this therapy his severe protein depletion was corrected. Subsequently, the patient rapidly recovered.The clinical picture was not unlike that described in the syndrome of kwashiorkor, even to the red hair. Eight months after admission to the hospital, and five months after the institution of protein therapy, the patient appears and acts perfectly healthy.