Cruel surprise — stroke in the shadow of chloroquine and prolonged QT interval: a case report

Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability in adults. It can present itself in many different ways beginning with focal neurological symptoms and ending with sudden cardiac arrest. Stroke predisposes to ventricular arrhythmias due to prolongation of the QT interval. This problem mainly affects patients with additional risk factors that affect QT interval prolongation. The following case report presents the story of a 68-year-old patient with diabetes mellitus, hypertension, heart failure and rheumatoid arthritis taking chronic chloroquine diagnosed in the ED and subsequently admitted to the Cardiac Intensive Care Clinic for out-of-hospital ventricular fibrillation cardiac arrest in the course of recurrent ventricular tachyarrhythmias, who was diagnosed with ischaemic stroke. Coordinated management is presented to achieve a stable outcome.