Author/Authors :
Correa de Carvalho, Aline Núcleo de Medicina Tropical - Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Pará, Brazil , da Silva Souza, Givago Núcleo de Medicina Tropical - Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Pará, Brazil , Antônio Marques Rosa, Alexandre Núcleo de Medicina Tropical - Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Pará, Brazil , Carlos de Lima Silveira, Luiz Núcleo de Medicina Tropical - Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Pará, Brazil , Schwarz, Martin Department of Ophthalmology - University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany , Duarte Gomes, Bruno Instituto de Ciências Biológicas - Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Pará, Brazil , Revoredo da Silva Ventura, Maria Instituto Evandro Chagas, Belém, Pará, Brazil , Maria de Souza, José Instituto Evandro Chagas, Belém, Pará, Brazil , Kremers, Jan School of Life Sciences - University of Bradford, Bradford, UK
Abstract :
Purpose: To investigate changes in multifocal electroretinography (mfERG) parameters
associated with high dose chloroquine therapy for treatment of malaria in the Amazonia
region of Brazil.
Methods: Forty-eight subjects who had received chloroquine treatment for single or
multiple malaria infections with a cumulative dose ranging from 1,050 to 27,000mg
were included. The control group consisted of 37 healthy aged-matched subjects. Data
was collected on amplitude and implicit time of the N1, P1 and N2 waves in the central
macular hexagon (R1) and in five concentric rings at different retinal eccentricities
(R2-R6).
Results: No significant difference was observed in any mfERG parameter between
chloroquine treated patients and control subjects. A comparison with previous data
obtained from patients with rheumatologic disorders in the same region of Brazil who
had received larger cumulative doses of chloroquine and had displayed mfERG changes,
indicated that retinal toxicity seems to be dependent on cumulative dose.
Conclusion: Lack of mfERG changes in the current study suggests that intensive high
dose chloroquine therapy for treatment of malaria is not associated with retinal toxicity.
Keywords :
Chloroquine; Malaria , Rheumatic Diseases , Retinal Degeneration , Multifocal Electroretinography
