Abstract
The clinical appearance of posttreatment liver dysfunction after insulin therapy is initiated to treat diabetes mellitus remains poorly understood. We studied the frequency of liver enzyme elevation and other factors in 119 patients after insulin therapy was initiated. We excluded 39 patients who already had liver dysfunction before insulin therapy was initiated. Of the remaining 80, 14 (17.5%) developed new liver dysfunction after insulin therapy was initiated at a frequency much higher than that in the pharmaceutical literature, in which liver dysfunction is generally reported to be less than 0.1%. We found liver dysfunction to be transient and that it was not necessary to discontinue insulin therapy in all cases. Previous reports, however, pointed out that it was necessary to change the insulin type or even stop insulin therapy altogether when liver enzymes became elevated. Overall, the nature of insulin-induced liver dysfunction remains poorly understood and no universally accepted treatment appears to exist for these conditions.
