Comparative study of intramuscular artemether and intravenous quinine in the treatment of cerebral malaria in children

Objective: to compare the effectiveness of intramuscular artemether with intravenous quinine sulphate infusion in cases of cerebral malaria. study design: randomized clinical trial. setting: pediatrics department,khyber teaching hospital,peshawar. duration: 6 months from september 21,2010 to march 21,2011 subjects and methods: the study cases were divided in to two groups. group a and b patients were treated with intramuscular artemether and intravenous quinine respectively to compare the effectiveness of the two drugs in cerebral malaria. results: there were 34 patients of cerebral malaria in each group. in group a,there were 20 (58.82%) males and 14 (41.18%) females. in group b,there were 21 (61.76%) males and 13 (38.24%) females. (p = 1.0000). the male to female ratio in group a and b was 1.42:1 and 1.61:1. the mean ages of patients in group a and b were 7.6 years ± 4.2sd and 7.0 years ± 4.3sd respectively (p = 0.5625). the mean duration of recovery of patients in cerebral malaria in group a and b was 24.8hours ± 9.3sd and 30.5hours ± 9.1sd respectively (p = 0.0130). mortality in group a and b was 4 (11.76%) and 5 (14.71%) cases respectively (p = 1.0000). conclusion: intramuscular artemether was more effective than intravenous quinine infusion in cerebral malaria.