Synthetic Antimalarial Maculopathy: A Case Series

Abstract

Synthetic antimalarials (SAM) are drugs originally used for the prevention and treatment of malaria but, because of anti-inflammatory and immuno-modulatory activities, they have been since used to treat many other pathologies. Many side effects have been attributed to them, in particular ocular toxicity represented essentially by retinopathy or chloroquine maculopathy. This maculopathy is reversible if diagnosed at an early stage, hence the importance of early detection in patients on long-term SAM. Our study consists of a retrospective study about fifteen patients followed for various pathologies and under long-term SAM .The study highlighted the modalities of monitoring patients, the need of the long term ophthalmological follow-up in order to detect a beginning retinal toxicity and reduce the dosage or even discontinue treatment depending on the risk-benefit ratio and possible therapeutic alternatives. An initial ophthalmologic clinical and paraclinical review must be performed before initiating treatment.