Liver changes in porphyria cutanea tarda patients treated with chloroquine

In thirty-four patients with porphyria cutanea tarda treated with small doses of chloroquine, liver biopsies were performed before and after treatment. In seventeen cases (50%) the morphological patterns before treatment corresponded to unstabilized fibrosis, while in eleven (32.4%) there were non-specific changes in the form of focal fatty change, haemosiderosis, and mild fibrosis of the portal tracts. Active chronic hepatitis was found in three patients (8.8%), and cirrhosis also in three cases. Although in all patients a clinical and metabolic remission of porphyria cutanea tarda occurred during treatment, the morphological patterns in the liver parenchyma remained on the whole unchanged. Only in five cases was there an increase in the inflammatory changes, while in two patients these changes tended to disappear.