Would you increase the hydroxychloroquine dose to more than 5 mg/kg/day in a compliant patient with active non-organ threatening lupus (skin+joints) if serum hydroxychloroquine is not at goal until you reach an acceptable concentration?
Answer from: at Academic Institution
Yes, absolutely. I monitor levels of HCQ, but more so that I can have conversations about medication adherence, rather than concern for toxicity. I have been doing this for >3 years, and in that time, nearly 80% of my patients were SUB-therapeutic, and only 1 patient was above the recommended the...
Answer from: at Community Practice
Sharing clinical experiences, like that of Dr. @Cunningham is important.
The reason why I seem crazy pushy about using HCQ drug levels is because:
I started doing them on all patients after seeing Michelle Petri's presentation at SLEuro 2016; checking the HCQ level every visit caused adhere...
This is very helpful! Nice data!
Thank you for this helpful answer.
Very helpful discussion, Dr. @Thomas. Would you mi...
@Richard Roseff: The 1.2% prevalence when HCQ drug...
Excellent, thank you.
Can anyone comment on the highest plaquenil dose t...
400mg is considered a top dose. I have not heard o...
@Carly Skamra and @Melissa Cunningham: I do use hi...