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317447

Hydroxychloroquine from Safety to Death: Case Series

Article

Last updated: 23 Dec 2024

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Tags

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Abstract

Introduction: Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) has been used to treat many autoimmune diseases. Early in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, HCQ was an essential arm in its management. Later, updated evidence had recommendations against its use in cases of COVID-19; however, its abundance in homes raised the risk of its misuse.  Aim: This study aimed to describe patients with acute hydroxychloroquine toxicity who presented to the Poison Control Centre Ain Shams at University Hospitals (PCC-ASUH) including the management and the outcomes. Method: Medical records of patients with acute HCQ toxicity presented to PCC-ASUH from the beginning of December 2020 to the end of December 2021 were reviewed. Patients' demographics, clinical parameters, laboratory investigations, electrocardiography (ECG) findings, treatment were presented and interpreted. Results: Eleven patients of acute HCQ poisoning during the study duration; ten survived, and one died. The most common presenting symptoms were vomiting and hypotension. The ECG abnormalities observed in two patients were wide QRS complexes and prolonged QT intervals. Patients were treated symptomatically. Hypotension was initially treated by intravenous (IV) fluids. Vasopressors were used in three patients. Conclusion: Although the incidence of acute HCQ toxicity is low, it can be fatal. The treatment is based mainly on early IV fluid resuscitation. The vasopressors were added to patients after the failure of fluid therapy. Patients required meticulous ECG and serum electrolytes monitoring, particularly serum Potassium (K) levels. Recommendations: The study recommended the early use of epinephrine as a vasopressor after the failure of IV fluid therapy to correct the hypotension in HCQ-poisoned patients. Intravenous diazepam should be considered with endotracheal intubation (ETT) and mechanical ventilation (MV) in the treatment. 

DOI

10.21608/zjfm.2023.223504.1156

Keywords

Chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, Covid-19 treatment, SLE, High Dose Diazepam

Authors

First Name

Salma

Last Name

Abdelkader

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

lecturerForensic medicine and clinical toxicology,faculty of medicine, ainshams unuiversity

Email

dr_salmibr@yahoo.com

City

cairo

Orcid

-

First Name

Alaa

Last Name

Mahmoud

MiddleName

Essam

Affiliation

lecturer inForensic medicine and clinical toxicology department, faculty of medicine, ainshams university

Email

dralaa3ssam@gmail.com

City

cairo

Orcid

-

First Name

Maha

Last Name

Wahdan

MiddleName

Magdy

Affiliation

Lecturer in Community Medicine, Environmental, and Occupational Medicine Department - Faculty of Medicine Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.

Email

drmaha_wahdan@med.asu.edu.eg

City

-

Orcid

0000-0002-3798-9057

First Name

Sarah

Last Name

El morsy

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Lecturer in Forensic medicine and clinical toxicology department, faculty of medicine, ainshams university

Email

saramorsy@med.asu.edu.eg

City

cairo

Orcid

0000-0002-9277-5721

Volume

22

Article Issue

1

Related Issue

44792

Issue Date

2024-01-01

Receive Date

2023-07-19

Publish Date

2024-01-01

Page Start

19

Page End

32

Print ISSN

1687-160X

Online ISSN

2536-9849

Link

https://zjfm.journals.ekb.eg/article_317447.html

Detail API

https://zjfm.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=317447

Order

2

Type

Original Article

Type Code

402

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Zagazig Journal of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology

Publication Link

https://zjfm.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Hydroxychloroquine from Safety to Death: Case Series

Details

Type

Article

Created At

23 Dec 2024