SUMMARY
Twenty men and one woman with porphyria cutanea tarda were treated with oral chloroquine, 125 mg twice weekly.
In nineteen of the patients chloroquine was taken for 8–5 months on average before complete clinical and biochemical remission occurred. Initially, treatment led to a considerable increase in urinary uroporphyrin and a mild increase in serum transaminases, but no adverse clinical reactions were observed. As the mechanism of chloroquine action in porphyria cutanea tarda has not yet been clarified, special caution must be observed when it is used therapeutically.
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