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Managing hydroxychloroquine toxicity

The clinical decline in patients with HCQ toxicity can be quite precipitous: be prepared with close cardiac monitoring

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When encountering a patient suffering from hydroxychloroquine toxicity, prehospital providers must be proactive with close cardiac monitoring of these patients and preparation for defibrillation (if needed) is key.

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Hydroxycholorquine has been the subject of constant discussion and debate in medical circles, as well as in the lay press, for the past few weeks.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened, physicians and the public alike have placed their hopes in various potential therapeutic possibilities. These have ranged from newer anti-viral medications to convalescent plasma treatment, which has been around for over 100 years.

Hydroxycholorquine (HCQ) surged to the forefront after a recent French study made claims of “a 100% viral clearance rate.” This hysteria led to a run on pharmacies around the world by people attempting to obtain the medication. Many issues have since been raised related to the study’s research methodology and quality, but the craze was on.

Hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil) has been used for decades as an anti-inflammatory in auto-immune conditions such as systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis. It blocks cardiac sodium and potassium channels which, in a toxicity situation, can lead to QRS and QTc prolongation respectively.

EMS providers know the danger of QTc and QRS prolongation – ventricular tachycardia and cardiac arrest. HCQ can also cause CNS depression and refractory seizures as well. If those problems weren’t enough, severe shock can also be present along with nausea and vomiting, and electrolyte abnormalities. To make matters even worse, this severe symptomatology can progress quite rapidly, and an ambulatory patient can progress to cardiac arrest within a matter of minutes after a toxic ingestion of HCQ. The cardiac effects can be exacerbated if HCQ is taken with other medications that prolong the QTc (such as azithromycin). For these reasons, at this time, HCQ use is not recommended outside of clinical research trials.

EMS treatment of hydroxychloroquine toxicity

When encountering a patient suffering from hydroxychloroquine toxicity, prehospital providers must be proactive with close cardiac monitoring of these patients and preparation for defibrillation (if needed) is key. The clinical decline in HCQ toxicity can be quite precipitous, so don’t let the well appearing patient reassure you. Sodium bicarbonate and magnesium sulfate are also indicated if ventricular arrhythmia occurs. Benzodiazepines, likely in high doses, are key if the patient seizes and we must be prepared to manage these airways as the patients can be markedly altered.

It is human nature to want to cling to hope in a situation like the COVID-19 pandemic, where it seems that we know so little about the disease. However, healthcare can’t throw out tenets of solid evidence-based medicine due to fear. Hopefully, proper randomized studies will eventually find effective treatments for COVID-19, but until then, we must be cautious. Medical history is littered with theoretically logical medications that ultimately caused harm when used in actual patient care. Unfortunately, the HCQ craze is loose and emergency providers now have to be on the lookout for the toxic presentations associated with ingestion and overdose.

Hydroxychloroquine gone bad with Dr. Jerry Snow

The MCHD Paramedic Podcast was launched in early 2018 in an effort to provide easily consumable core-content EMS education and insights from prehospital care thought leaders. The Clinical Services Department of The Montgomery County Hospital District EMS service developed the podcast as a tool to better engage and disseminate continuing education to our MCHD medics as well as first responders and EMS professionals nationwide.

Dr. Casey Patrick is the assistant medical director for Montgomery County Hospital District EMS and is a practicing emergency physician in multiple community emergency departments across Greater Houston. His EMS educational focus is on innovative paramedic teaching via the MCHD Paramedic Podcast. Dr. Patrick’s prehospital clinical research involves the investigation of paramedic use of bolus dose intravenous nitroglycerin for acute pulmonary edema and the implementation of lung protective ventilation strategies for intubated EMS patients. Casey and his wife, Alyssa, work and live in Conroe, Texas, and Spokane, Washington. Together they have five children: Mia, Ainsley, Brock, Dean and Will.

Dr. Dickson graduated with honors from the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio in 2001 and completed emergency medicine training at Indiana University in 2004. He serves as the EMS medical director at Montgomery County Hospital District EMS and an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. His academic interests include systems of care in stroke and other time-sensitive emergencies, neurologic emergencies and education. He is board certified in emergency medicine in both the U.S. and Australasia, and has subspecialty board certification in EMS medicine. He has authored multiple professional articles and presented at regional, national and international conferences on emergency medicine and EMS topics.

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