A Forgotten Cause of Recurrent Abdominal Pain: Case Report

Abstract

Introduction: Porphyrias are enzymatic disorders of heme synthesis. Acute hepatic porphyrias (AHP) presents with acute neurovisceral symptoms such as abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, constipation, muscle weakness, neuropathy, tachycardia, and hypertension. 5-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD) deficiency is a rare autosomal recessive disorder that results in little or no elevation of porphobilinogen but elevates urinary 5-aminolevulinic acid and coproporphyrin III. There are no records of this type of porphyria in Colombia. Acute management requires comprehensive care, ranging from hemotherapy to liver transplantation.

Case Presentation: A 24-year-old man with no prior medical history presented with a recurrent and acute episode of abdominal pain associated with changes in urine color, skin lesions, diarrhea, and dysregulation of body temperature. Initial paraclinical workup ruled out common causes of recurrent abdominal pain, with a negative porphobilinogen test, but further testing revealed elevated 5-aminolevulinic acid, confirming the diagnosis of ALAD porphyria. The patient showed improvement with hemotherapy and remission of acute kidney injury. A possible distractor associated with interstitial nephritis and skin manifestations related to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use was documented.

Conclusions: ALAD porphyria and all acute hepatic porphyrias should be considered in any patient presenting with unexplained recurrent severe abdominal pain and neuropathy. Despite their relative rarity and complexity, most porphyrias can be easily defined and diagnosed. A common cause of diagnostic delay is the failure to consider porphyria in the differential diagnosis on time. There is still much to learn about ALAD porphyria.