Hydroxychloroquine as a Steroid-sparing Agent in Extrapulmonary Sarcoidosis

Exclusion Criteria

• •* severe sarcoidosis involvement requiring another immunosuppressant or anti-TNF antibody or methylprednisolone i.v. pulses
• •* previous (\<3 months before screening) or concurrent treatment with immunosuppressants
• •* previous treatment with corticoid (patient weaned for 3 months before inclusion)
• •* previous treatment with antimalarial drugs (HCQ/CQ) (patient must have been off plaquenil for at least 12 months)
• •* treatment with citalopram, escitalopram, hydroxyzin, domperidone and piperaquine
• •* known hypersensitivity or intolerance to HCQ/CQ or 4-aminoquinoline derivatives and prednisone
• •* heart rhythm disorders on EKG (QT prolongation) (except atrial fibrillations)
• •* severe ophthalmological impairment or ophthalmological impairment that does not allow ophthalmic monitoring; previous history of maculopathy or retinopathy
• •* end-stage lung, liver, cardiac, or renal disease
• •* sarcoidosis with central nervous system involvement
• •* cardiac sarcoidosis
• •* clinical evidence of active infection (including infection with herpes virus and varicella-zoster virus) or severe/unstabilized comorbidity (e.g. moderate to severe heart failure) or unstabilized psychosis
• •* chronic viral (HIV or HBV) infection
• •* untreated latent/active tuberculosis
• •* pregnancy or lactation (βHCG will be test by blood analysis at inclusion)
• •* concurrent vaccination with live vaccines during therapy
• •* inability to understand information about the protocol and to sign informed consent or not suitable candidate to comply with the requirements of this study
• •* patient participating in other interventional research
• •* persons under court protection
• •* Use of effective contraception for the duration of the study . (Contraception is considered effective when it consists of one of the following: use of a male condom during all sexual activity and/or efficient oral hormonal contraception (better considered combined contraception) and/or an intrauterine device (IUD) and/or hormone-releasing intrauterine system (IUS) and/or history of bilateral tubal ligation and/or history of vasectomy, provided the male partner is the trial participant's only sexual partner and/or sexual abstinence)