Cerebral vasospasm in acute porphyria
Background and purpose Porphyrias are a group of inherited metabolic disorders resulting from a specific deficiency along the pathway of haem biosynthesis. A clinical classification distinguishes acute from non‐acute porphyrias considering the occurrence of life‐threatening neurovisceral attacks, pr...
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Published in | European journal of neurology Vol. 24; no. 9; pp. 1183 - 1187 |
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Main Authors | , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
England
John Wiley & Sons, Inc
01.09.2017
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Background and purpose
Porphyrias are a group of inherited metabolic disorders resulting from a specific deficiency along the pathway of haem biosynthesis. A clinical classification distinguishes acute from non‐acute porphyrias considering the occurrence of life‐threatening neurovisceral attacks, presenting with abdominal pain, neuropsychiatric disturbance and neuropathy. Vasospasm is a very rare complication that can occur in all major types of acute porphyria.
Methods
We describe a porphyric crisis with vasospasm in a woman with previously undiagnosed acute porphyria. Furthermore we performed a systematic review by searching the electronic database Pubmed/MEDLINE for additional data in published studies of vasospasm in acute porphyria.
Results
Overall, 9 case reports reporting on 11 patients who suffered vasospasm during an exacerbation of acute porphyria were identified. All of the reported patients were women and the mean age was 29.4 years. When brain MRI was performed, T2‐hyperintense lesions, consistent with ischaemic changes, were observed in most patients (10/11, 91%). Although the genetic pathogenesis of the disease is well understood, the precise mechanisms to explain neurologic involvement in acute porphyria remain unclear.
Conclusion
Acute porphyria is an unusual and rare cause of vasospasm. However, considering porphyria in patients with unexplained cerebral vasospasm, especially in women of childbearing age, is crucial given the severity of possible complications and the available treatment options. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Case Study-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-4 content type line 23 ObjectType-Report-1 ObjectType-Article-3 |
ISSN: | 1351-5101 1468-1331 |
DOI: | 10.1111/ene.13347 |