Methemoglobinemia and dapsone levels in patients with leprosy

• Autor(a) principal: VIEIRA, José Luiz Fernandes
• Data de Publicação: 2010
• Outros Autores: RIVERA, Juan Gonzalo Bardález, MARTINS, Ana de Nazaré Silva, SILVA, Jorge Pereira da, SALGADO, Claudio Guedes
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UFPA
• Texto Completo: http://www.repositorio.ufpa.br:8080/jspui/handle/2011/2422
• topic: Metemoglobina; Dapsona; Hanseníase; Doenças infecciosas

The objective of this work was to determine the methemoglobinemia and correlate with dapsone levels in multibacillary leprosy patients under leprosy multi-drug therapy. Thirty patients with laboratory and clinical diagnosis of multibacillary leprosy were enrolled. Dapsone was analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography and methemoglobinemia by spectrophotometry. The mean dapsone concentrations in male was 1.42 g/mL and in female was 2.42 g/mL. The mean methemoglobin levels in male was 3.09 µg/mL; 191%, and in female was 2.84 ± 1.67%. No correlations were seen between dapsone levels and methemoglobin in male and female patients. Our results demonstrated that the dosage of dapsone in leprosy treatment does not promote a significant methemoglobinemia.