Identification of sphingoglycolipids in a patient regarded as having Fabry's disease.

Fabry's disease is one of the inherited diseases, in which sphingoglycolipids accumulate systemically in tissue as the result of defective α-galactosyl hydrolase. In this paper, we studied a 54 year-old female who had complaints of leg pain, palpebral edema and telangiectasis and in whom foam cells in renal biopsy as well as proteinuria in urinalysis were revealed. As an increase of sphingoglycolipids was discovered in her urinary sediment by biochemical analysis, this patient was shown to be suffering from Fabry's disease.