Myelodysplastic syndrome terminating in erythropoietic protoporphyria after 15 years of aplastic anemia.

The authors report a case of aplastic anemia in which refractory anemia, a subtype of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), developed 15 years after the onset and was subsequently followed by erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP). Defects of stem cells in MDS are thought to be responsible for the disturbance of the heme biosynthetic pathway, leading to the development of EPP.