• Jonathan de Olano, Mary Ann Howland, Mark K Su, Robert S Hoffman, and Rana Biary.
• Division of Medical Toxicology, Ronald O. Perelman Department of Emergency Medicine, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA; New York City Poison Control Center, New York, NY, USA. Electronic address: j... more deolan@emory.edu. less
• Am J Emerg Med. 2019 Dec 1; 37 (12): 2264.e5-2264.e8.

BackgroundWe report a patient with a massive hydroxychloroquine overdose manifested by profound hypokalemia and ventricular dysrhythmias and describe hydroxychloroquine toxicokinetics.Case ReportA 20-year-old woman (60 kg) presented 1 h after ingesting 36 g of hydroxychloroquine. Vital signs were: BP, 66 mmHg/palpation; heart rate, 115/min; respirations 18/min; oxygen saturation, 100% on room air. She was immediately given intravenous fluids and intubated. Infusions of diazepam and epinephrine were started. Activated charcoal was administered. Her initial serum potassium of 5.3 mEq/L decreased to 2.1 mEq/L 1 h later. The presenting electrocardiogram (ECG) showed sinus tachycardia at 119 beats/min with a QRS duration of 146 ms, and a QT interval of 400 ms (Bazett's QTc 563 ms). She had four episodes of ventricular tachydysrhythmias requiring cardioversion, electrolyte repletion, and lidocaine infusion. Her blood hydroxychloroquine concentration peaked at 28,000 ng/mL (therapeutic range 500-2000 ng/mL). Serial concentrations demonstrated apparent first-order elimination with a half-life of 11.6 h. She was extubated on hospital day three and had a full recovery.ConclusionWe present a massive hydroxychloroquine overdose treated with early intubation, activated charcoal, epinephrine, high dose diazepam, aggressive electrolyte repletion, and lidocaine. The apparent 11.6 hour half-life of hydroxychloroquine was shorter than previously described.Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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