title: Recurrent painful hand crisis in a four-year-old girl, revealing an erythropoietic protoporphyria.
abstract: We report the case of a 4-year-old girl, who had been suffering for 2 years from a recurrent, painful crisis affecting both hands, following sun exposure. There were no obvious cutaneous lesions, which initially caused us to consider a diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder. However, the diagnosis of erythropoietic protoporphyria was then established by the demonstration of elevated levels of free protoporphyrin in erythrocytes. The present case illustrates the effectiveness of beta-carotene associated with canthaxanthin in erythropoietic protoporphyria.
authors.affiliation: Service de Dermatologie, Hôpital Robert-Debré, avenue du Général-Koenig, 51092 Reims, France.
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Labrousse
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Salmon-Ehr
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Eschard
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kalis
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Leonard
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bernard
mesh_terms: D000975:Antioxidants / Q000008:administration & dosage; D016644:Canthaxanthin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006225:Hand; D006801:Humans; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology*; D010787:Photosensitivity Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D017121:Porphyria, Hepatoerythropoietic / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D012008:Recurrence; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D019207:beta Carotene / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D019207:beta Carotene; D016644:Canthaxanthin