environmental causes of PCT
Last reviewed 01/2018
Certain drugs and chemicals have been identified as causing the sporadic or symptomatic form of PCT:
- alcohol - affects the activity of specific enzymes in the heme pathway
- oestrogens - mechanism is poorly understood; based on the increased occurrence of PCT in women following the widespread usage of oestrogens as contraceptive agents and in men treated for prostatic carcinoma
- hexachlorobenzene and other chlorinated phenols
- iron - mechanism is complex; hepatic iron overload is found in nearly all cases of PCT
Other possible causes include (1):
- viral infections:
- hepatitis C virus
- HIV
- systemic disorders:
- SLE
- lymphoma