Starvation

From Libre Pathology
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Starvation is due to lack of food, inability or lack of desire to eat.

General

Causes of starvation:

  • Psychiatric:
    • Dementia.
    • Anorexia nervosa.
    • Disorder with delusions, e.g. schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder - belief one is being poisoned.
  • Organic disease:
    • Malignancy, e.g. esophageal carcinoma.
    • Causes of malabsorption.
    • Vomiting.
  • Other:
    • Poverty.
    • Young age (cannot feed themself).
    • Disability/trauma - person falls and cannot get up, help not available.

Associations - serous fat atrophy:[1]

  • Acute febrile states.
  • AIDS.
  • Alcoholism.
  • Anorexia nervosa.
  • Cachexia.
  • Carcinomas.
  • Chronic heart failure.
  • Lymphoma.

Gross

  • Very low body mass index (BMI).
  • Serous fat atrophy:[1]
    • Soft brown/myxoid material replaces fat.

Microscopic

Features - serous fat atrophy:

  • Globular cells ~3-4x the size of a RBC (24-32 micrometers) with:
    • Clear cytoplasm.
    • One small peripheral nucleus without a nucleolus.

DDx:

Images:

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Munfus DL, Menke DM (July 2009). "Case of severe serous fat atrophy". Mayo Clin. Proc. 84 (7): 570. doi:10.4065/84.7.570. PMC 2704126. PMID 19567708. http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/content/84/7/570.full.
  2. Clarke, BE.; Brown, DJ.; Xipell, JM. (Jan 1983). "Gelatinous transformation of the bone marrow.". Pathology 15 (1): 85-8. PMID 6222282.