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Cardiotoxicity after low-dose chloroquine antimalarial therapy

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Abstract

Previous reports on antimalarial toxicity have only been related to long-term continuous treatments for nonmalarial indications, which require prolonged use of large doses, up to 1000 g or more every year. We describe a patient with recurrent malaria, prophylactically treated with low-dose chloroquine, who developed heart failure due to biventricular cardiac dysfunction. The right ventricle endomyocardial biopsy was suggestive of chloroquine toxicity. The heart failure improved after drug withdrawal. As a consequence, the potential for reversibility and the severity in undiagnosed cases of these toxic cardiomyopathies emphasize the importance of recognizing early signs of toxicity in order to withdraw antimalarials before the occurrence of life-threatening cardiac toxicity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Cardiology, Heart Failure Clinic, Istituto Scientifico San Raffaele, Via Olgettina 60, 20132, Milan, Italy

    Gabriele Fragasso, Francesca Baratto & Alberto Margonato

  2. Department of Pathology, Istituto Scientifico San Raffaele, Milan, Italy

    Francesca Sanvito & Claudio Doglioni

  3. Department of Metabolic Medicine, Istituto Scientifico San Raffaele, Milan, Italy

    Sabina Martinenghi

Authors
  1. Gabriele Fragasso
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  2. Francesca Sanvito
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  3. Francesca Baratto
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  4. Sabina Martinenghi
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  5. Claudio Doglioni
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  6. Alberto Margonato
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gabriele Fragasso.

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Fragasso, G., Sanvito, F., Baratto, F. et al. Cardiotoxicity after low-dose chloroquine antimalarial therapy. Heart Vessels 24, 385–387 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00380-008-1144-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00380-008-1144-8

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