A ketone body produced by metabolic disease or disturbance; also known as diacetic acid.
An organic acid produced in large amounts by the liver under metabolic conditions associated with a high rate of fatty acid oxidation (for example, in starvation). The acetoacetic acid thus formed is subsequently converted to acetone and excreted.
A ketone body, CH3COCH2COOH, formed when fats are incompletely oxidized. It appears in urine in abnormal amounts in starvation and in untreated diabetes, primarily type 1 diabetes. It was formerly called acetylacetic acid.