Treatment outcome of intravenous artesunate in patients with severe malaria in the Netherlands and Belgium

Table 3 Administered treatment

Variable	Number of patients (n_total = 68)
Initial treatment, n (%)
Artesunate	43 (63)
monotherapy	39 (57)
+ clindamycin	2 (3)
+ doxycycline	2 (3)
Quinine	19 (28)
AP	2 (3)
AL	2 (3)
SP + doxycycline	1 (2)
Unknown oral anti-malarial	1 (2)
Artesunate
Median number of doses (range)	3 (1-7)
Median cumulative dose (range), mg	600 (120-1320)
Median cumulative dose/bodyweight (range), mg/kg	7.5 (2.3-18.1)
Oral anti-malarial drug after artesunate, n (%)
AP	41 (60)
AL	20 (29)
Doxycycline	2 (3)
Doxycycline + Quinine	1 (2)
Clindamycin + Quinine	1 (2)
AP + mefloquine	1 (2)
Primaquine	1 (2)
Mefloquine	1 (2)
Supportive care, n (%)
Erythrocytapheresis	4 (6)
Exchange transfusion	13 (19)
Blood transfusion	9 (13)
Platelets transfusion	1 (2)
Mechanical ventilation	6 (9)
Haemodialysis	5 (7)

AP: atovaquone-proguanil; AL: artemether-lumefantrine; SP: sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine;
Before receiving artesunate, 25 patients (37%) received another anti-malarial drug. The median number of IV dosages of artesunate was 3 (range 1-7) doses. The median cumulative artesunate dose was 600 mg (range 120-1320 mg) or 7.5 mg/kg (range 2.3-18.1) mg/kg. The median time between diagnosis of malaria and first dose of artesunate was 4.0 hours (range 0-47 hours). Treatment was changed to oral anti-malarial drugs after a time of 2 days (range 0-6 days) after first dose of artesunate. The majority received either AP (60%) or AL (29%).