Daily Plaquenil Dosage - Crunching Numbers
NOTE: I originally wrote this post on my personal blog. However, since this largely describes my thought process while creating EyeDock's Plaquenil calculator, I thought it would be appropriate to post it here...
As all eye care providers should be aware, there have been some revisions in the recommendations of how we monitor our Plaquenil patients secondary to two articles 1,2 published earlier this year.
Whenever I want a quick review of Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine retinotoxicity I always head to Ron Melton and Randall Thomas's excellent website, Eyeupdate. As expected, their site has been updated with the new recommendations and I won't bother duplicating their efforts here.
I will, however, plunge a little deeper into some of the dosaging concerns they brought up in their article. After all, I never met an algebraic equation I didn't like, and I have a obsession for looking at data and trying to establish trends. In addition, I thought I might be able to create a simple calculator to help my fellow eye care professionals determine their patient's retinotoxic risk as it relates to plaquenil dosage. It's not that the calculations are particularly difficult, but, being Americans and using the cumbersome English system of measurements, it's requires a few more steps than a busy doctor should have to take.