Effect of artemisinin-piperaquine treatment on the electrocardiogram of malaria patients

• Main Authors: Wanting Wu, Yuan Liang, Guangchao Wu, Yinghang Su, Hongying Zhang, Zhenyan Zhang, Changsheng Deng, Qi Wang, Bo Huang, Bo Tan, Chongjun Zhou, Jianping Song
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical (SBMT) 2019-05-01
• Series: Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical
• Subjects: ECG; QT; Artemisinin-piperaquine; Malaria; Cambodia
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0037-86822019000100656&lng=en&tlng=en

Abstract INTRODUCTION: Concern regarding the cardiotoxicity of antimalarials has been renewed because of their potential to cause QT/QTc interval prolongation related to torsade de pointes (TdP). Artemisinin-piperaquine (AP) is considered an effective artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) for malaria. METHODS: This study involved a retrospective analysis of clinical data of 93 hospitalized malaria patients who had received AP orally. Electrocardiograms (ECGs) were obtained at specific time points in the original study. RESULTS: Some cases of QT prolongation were observed. However, no TdP was found. CONCLUSIONS: AP may cause QT interval prolongation in some malaria patients but may not lead to TdP.