ACUTE HEPATIC PORPHYRIA AND PSYCHOSES: (Experience of twelve years)1

A sample of 805 psychotic patients belonging to different groups was screened for acute hepatic porphyria during 1975 to 1987 by observing urinary colour change on standing to brown red colour and for positive Waston-Schwartz test, indicating increase in urinary porphobilinogen which is diagnostic of acute hepatic porphyria. 27.95% cases had shown positivity which was further confirmed by quantitative estimation using spectrophotometric method of Rimington. However, when these positive cases were subjected to more specific tests viz, additional butanol extraction modification to Watson-Schwartz test and quantitative estimation of porphobilinogen by ion-exchange resin coloumn chromatographic method of Mauzerall & Grannick, only 1.12% could confirm their positivity. These cases were only, diagnosed as acute hepatic porphyria. The positivity to the non specific, yet accepted diagnostic tests for acute porphyria observed in remaining 26.8% psychotics was an amazing unexplained phenomenon. It was suggestive of the presence of a non specific porphyric activity.