Acute intermittent porphyria as a cause of acute respiratory failure.

A fatal case of acute intermittent porphyria in a 22 years old Indian male is reported. He presented with abdominal pain and constipation, subsequently developed status epilepticus, acute respiratory failure and quadriparesis. He succumbed to the illness on the twelfth day. Among the neuromuscular causes of acute respiratory failure, requiring ventilatory support, porphyria is a condition potentially treatable, but rarely suspected.