Familial insulin resistant diabetes associated with acanthosis nigricans, polycystic ovaries, hypogonadism, pigmentary retinopathy, labyrinthine deafness, and mental retardation.

Two sibs, whose parents are first cousins, had diabetes mellitus with hyperinsulinism, insensitive insulin receptors, and acanthosis nigricans. Both patients had pigmentary retinopathy, secondary cataracts, labyrinthine deafness, mental retardation, and cerebral atrophy. They were disproportionately short with relatively broad hands and feet and slightly coarse face. The young woman had secondary amenorrhea and polycystic ovaries and the boy gynecomastia and hypergonadotrophic hypogonadism. This appears to be the second family with a new autosomal recessive disorder differing from Alström syndrome by the presence of mental retardation and absence of renal insufficiency. Impaired insulin receptor binding and polycystic ovaries are described as part of this syndrome.