Guidelines for drug prescription in patients with the acute porphyrias.

Certain drugs are well known to cause acute neurological crises in patients with hereditary coproporphyria, variegate porphyria and acute intermittent porphyria. Guidelines for drug therapy have been provided in this article, particular attention being paid to the manner in which the porphyrogenicity or safety of a drug has been assessed and providing full references to the original reports to allow further research if necessary.