Porphyria cutanea tarda in a patient on chronic ambulatory peritoneal dialysis.

Porphyria cutanea tarda is a disorder of heme biosynthesis resulting from a defect or deficiency in the enzyme uroporphyrinogen decarboxylase. Heme precursors accumulate in the blood, urine, stool, and skin, where exposure to sunlight results in the clinical manifestations. Porphyria cutanea tarda has been described in adult hemodialysis patients. The pathogenesis of porphyria cutanea tarda in this population is thought to be related to the inability of hemodialysis to adequately clear porphyrin precursors, resulting in increased precursor serum levels, precursor skin deposition, and subsequent clinical manifestations. A proper diagnosis of porphyria cutanea tarda in hemodialysis patients requires fractionation of serum porphyrins. Normalization of the porphyrin profile and reversal of the dermal manifestations require the withdrawal of hepatotoxic agents and the reversal of hepatic iron overload. A case of porphyria cutanea tarda in an adult ESRD patient treated with continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis is described. In this patient, the disease was related to elevated serum levels of phenytoin, which had been administered for seizure disorder.