[Acute intermittent porphyria: Long-term follow up of 35 patients]

Abstract

Background and objectives: Acute intermittent porphyria (AIP) is a rare disease that results from a deficiency of porphobilinogen deaminase, the third enzyme of the heme biosynthetic pathway. AIP carriers are at risk of presenting acute neurovisceral attacks associated with overproduction of heme-precursors in the liver.

Patients and method: We report the characteristics of all AIP patients attended in the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona during the years 1993-2013 and their long-term follow-up.

Results: Thirty-five AIP patients (33 women, 2 men) experienced acute attacks. Treatment with hemin resolved the acute neurovisceral crisis in all cases. Nine patients presented peripheral neuropathy and persistent sequelae. Long-term follow-up allowed classifying the patients into groups: A, patients with acute symptoms during 1-2 years and subsequent long-lasting clinical remission (n=24) or a few sporadic crises (n=3), and B, patients with recurrent attacks requiring chronic administration of hemin (n=8). In a majority of the patients of group A, the urinary excretion of heme-precursors decreased gradually over time. However, the chronic hemin regime did not induce a decline of urinary heme-precursors in the patients of group B. Additionally, we identified 44 asymptomatic AIP carriers, most (70.5%) with normal values of heme-precursors in urine.

Conclusions: A majority of the AIP patients of our series achieved a long-lasting clinical remission. A minority (23%) presented recurrent attacks that required chronic hemin infusions without feasible interruption and without long-term biochemical remission. The type of mutation within the porphobilinogen deaminase gene and also life-style related factors may determine remission time-course.

Keywords: Acute intermittent porphyria; Crisis neurovisceral; Hemin; Hemina; Neurovisceral crisis; Porfiria aguda intermitente; Porfobilinógeno deaminasa; Porphobilinogen deaminase.