Porphyria Cutanea Tarda after Antineoplastic Drugs

Overview

Chronic hepatic porphyria is in some cases a paraneoplasia, in others part of the neoplastic disease. Sometimes itis, on the other hand manifested during antineoplastic treatment. Its development may be associated with this therapy.The presented case-history describes a female patient with breast cancer treated with antineoplastic agents, whodeveloped a sporadic form of late cutaneous porphyria with a classical clinical and laboratory picture.The authors contemplate on the possible porphyrinogenic effect of antineoplastic agents, in particular cyclophos-phamide and tamoxifen, which in the latter preparation was not described so far.

Key words:
porphyria, porphyria cutanea tarda, PCT, porphyrogenicity, antineoplastic agents, 5-fluorouracil,cyclophosphamide, tamoxifen.