[Recurrent abdominal pain caused by acute intermittent porphyria]

Acute intermittent porphyria is an inherited metabolic disorder which may remain undiagnosed throughout life unless appropriate biochemical analysis is being performed during an acute attack.

We describe a 26-year-old woman who had been suffering from recurrent abdominal pain for many years. She had been hospitalized several times; her appendix had been removed, and three diagnostic laparoscopies and several gynaecological procedures had not revealed the cause. During an intractable and increasing abdominal pain episode, porphyrins were detected in her urine. Her pain was then treated effectively with a combination of morphine, glucose and haem-arginat infusion.

In a patient suffering from repeated episodes of unexplainable abdominal colic, paresis or psychic symptoms, acute intermittent porphyria should be considered as a diagnosis.