Caution of retinal toxicity using chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of COVID-19

• Main Authors: Li-Yuan Wang, He Sun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Press of International Journal of Ophthalmology (IJO PRESS) 2020-07-01
• Series: Guoji Yanke Zazhi
• Subjects: chloroquine; hydroxychloroquine; covid-19; retinal toxicity
• Online Access: http://ies.ijo.cn/cn_publish/2020/7/202007039.pdf

“Chloroquine phosphate” was listed as a trial drug in diagnosis and treatment program of COVID-19(trial sixth edition), and the application of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine treatment for COVID-19 in medical institutions also increased. Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine have certain retinal toxicity, its mechanism is still unclear, due to different drug tolerance, the risk degree of retinal toxicity in COVID-19 treatment is unclear. Therefore, when using chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of COVID-19, it is recommended to choose the appropriate dosage according to patients' situation, and adopt necessary ophthalmic screening for patients with high risk to prevent the occurrence of retinopathy. In this paper, we described the risk factors, clinical manifestations and screening methods of retinal toxicity caused by chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, in order to provide references for the safer use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of COVID-19.