Elective cholecystectomy performed on patient with variegate porphyria-Propofol-based total intravenous anesthesia with target-controlled infusion

•Attack of porphyria may be triggered by many factors, including medications.•Patients suffering from porphyria require special anesthetic management.•Propofol should be strongly considered for application in porphyria.Elevation of porphyrins may not be accompanied by clinical symptoms.

Porphyria is caused by disorders of enzymes that synthetize porphyrins. Both elective and emergency surgical procedures on patient suffering from porphyria may provoke acute symptoms. These patients require special anesthetic management since some of commonly used anesthetic agents may also induce acute manifestation of porphyria. We present the case of 53-year-old woman previously diagnosed with porphyria who underwent elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Propofol-based total intravenous anesthesia with target-controlled infusion was used. Such conduct proved to be safe regarding clinical symptoms, although biochemical markers were slightly elevated after procedure. Propofol seems to be the safest hypnotic drug to use in porphyria; however, special care should be taken is such cases.