الفهرس 
Rheumatological DiseasesOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) is anti-malarial drug which have been used since 1950 to treat auto-inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and connective tissue diseases (CTDs) including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
HCQ can causes retinotoxicity and the risk of toxicity is dependent on daily dose and duration of use. At recommended doses, the risk of toxicity up to 5 years is under 1% and up to 10 years is under 2%, but it rises to almost 20% after 20 years. High dose and long duration of use are the most significant risks. The risk of toxicity depends on the daily dose (5 mg/kg of HCQ), duration of treatment exceeding 5 years and its toxicity appears as a result of an affinity to bind to melanin in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and cause damage to the macular cones outside of the fovea. The drug inhibits RPE lysosome activity, reduces phagocytosis of shed photoreceptor outer segments causing an accumulation of outer receptor segments.
When retinopathy is recognized early, before the retinal pigmented epithelium is damaged, there is only a limited progression after discontinuing medication and visual loss can be avoided; hence, screening for early detection of retinal toxicity is very important.
So, this meta-analysis aims to evaluate the role of OCT in quantitative affection of RPE in cases of HCQ retinotoxicity by measuring central macular thickness in rhumatological patients under treatment with HCQ in various durations.