Porphyria-induced posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome and central nervous system dysfunction

Daniel A. Jaramillo-Calle, Juan M. Solano, Alejandro A. Rabinstein, Herbert L. Bonkovsky

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background and aim: An association between neuropsychiatric manifestations and neuroimaging suggestive of posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) during porphyric attacks has been described in numerous case reports. We aimed to systematically review clinical-radiological features and likely pathogenic mechanisms of PRES in patients with acute hepatic porphyrias (AHP) and porphyric attacks. Methods: PubMed, Scopus, Ovid MEDLINE, and Google Scholar were searched (July 30, 2019). We included articles describing patients with convincing evidence of an AHP, confirmed porphyric attacks, and PRES in neuroimaging. Results: Forty-three out of 269 articles were included, which reported on 46 patients. Thirty-nine (84.8%) patients were women. The median age was 24 ± 13.8 years. 52.2% had unspecified AHP, 41.3% acute intermittent porphyria, 4.3% hereditary coproporphyria, and 2.2% variegate porphyria. 70.2% had systemic arterial hypertension. Seizures, mental changes, arterial hypertension, and hyponatremia occurred more frequently than expected for porphyric attacks (p < .001). Seizures and hyponatremia were also more frequent than expected for PRES. The most common distributions of brain lesions were occipital (81.4%), parietal (65.1%), frontal (60.5%), subcortical (40%), and cortical (32.5%). Cerebral vasoconstriction was demonstrated in 41.7% of the patients who underwent angiography. 19.6% of the patients had ischemic lesions, and 4.3% developed long-term sequelae (cognitive decline and focal neurological deficits). Conclusions: Brain edema, vasoconstriction, and ischemia in the context of PRES likely account for central nervous symptoms in some porphyric attacks.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)242-253
Number of pages12
JournalMolecular genetics and metabolism
Volume128
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2019

Keywords

  • Central nervous system
  • Neuroimaging
  • Neuropsychiatry
  • Physiopathology
  • Porphyria
  • Posterior leukoencephalopathy syndrome

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
  • Biochemistry
  • Molecular Biology
  • Genetics
  • Endocrinology

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