Lipodystrophy update.

Lipodystrophy is the term given to describe a series of changes in body composition [loss of fat in the legs, arms, or face, breast enlargement, central obesity (sometimes called protease paunch), dorsal fat pads (known as buffalo hump, etc.] as well as changes in laboratory markers associated with how the body processes fats and sugars (e.g. cholesterol and triglyceride changes, also called lipids). Several new findings were recently reported a the 3rd International Workshop on Adverse Drug Reactions and Lipodystrophy in HIV. Although these results may help in making decisions about specific therapies, they offer little information on the cause of lipodystrophy syndromes. However, several studies to be presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in February 2002 may shed more light on the cause and will be reported in the next PI Perspective.