Encyclopedia > Allergic reactions during anaesthesia
The incidence of life-threatening hypersensitivity reactions occurring during anaesthesia is around one in 10,000 procedures. Muscle relaxants are involved in over two thirds of the cases. Antibiotic administration is a frequent cause. Anesthesia (AE), also anaesthesia (BE), is the process of blocking the perception of pain and other sensations. ... In medicine, a muscle relaxant is a drug that causes skeletal muscle contraction to cease. ...
The mortality rate from these reactions is about 3-6%.
Successful immediate treatment requires prompt recognition by the attending anaesthetist. Adrenaline (epinephrine) remains the mainstay of treatment, with corticosteroids and antihistamines providing limited benefit in the acute situation. An anesthesiologist (American English), or anaesthetist (British English), is a medical doctor trained to administer Australia, for example, training is overseen by the United States, anesthesiologists are medical doctors (MD). ... Epinephrine (INN) or adrenaline (BAN) is a hormone and a neurotransmitter. ... In physiology, corticosteroids are a class of steroid hormones that are produced in the adrenal cortex. ... An antihistamine is a drug which serves to reduce or eliminate effects mediated by histamine, an endogenous chemical mediator released during allergic reactions, through action at the histamine receptor. ...
Subsequent investigation aims to determine the responsible agent to allow its future avoidance. Skin testing is often useful to identify potentially cross-reactive compounds and appropriate therapeutic alternatives. This is done weeks after the initial reaction to allow the immune system to reset itself. However, skin testing can be misleading in giving false positive and false negative results.
The frequency of life-threatening anaphylactic or anaphylactoid reactions occurring duringanaesthesia has been estimated to be between 1 in 1000 and 1 in 25,000 anaesthetic procedures, with the neuromuscular blockers being involved in 80% of cases.
Duringanaesthesia, the clinical features of an allergicreaction are often masked.
Crawford Williamson Long was the first to use anaesthesiaduring an operation; giving it to a boy before excising a cyst from his neck, however, he did not publisize this information until later.
Anaesthesia and surgery can affect all the systems of the body, therefore it is vitally important that the anaesthesiologist should be informed of all medical conditions you may have.
During some procedures the loss of blood is unavoidable, regardless the skills of the surgeon.
Allergicreactions to one type of anaesthetic does not mean that you will not be able to receive anaesthetics in future.
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