BMJ 1995;311:1434 (25 November)

Letters

Treatment of acute anaphylaxis

Surviving the journey is a good prognostic indicator

EDITOR,--Malcolm Fisher's article on acute anaphylaxis was prompted by an anecdote concerning a doctor's panic when his young daughter developed an acute allergic reaction.1 The father ended up "ranting and raving" in the emergency department because his daughter had not received adrenaline immediately. Fisher uses this scenario to underline the need for the rapid administration of adrenaline in anaphylaxis. Nevertheless, he freely admits that, with the protean and sometimes life threatening nature of anaphylaxis and anaphylactoid reactions, randomised controlled trials of treatment are not feasible.

Given the emotive and anecdotal origin of Fisher's article, it is perhaps important to be aware of other anecdotal issues in the treatment of anaphylaxis. Each year we admit roughly 100 patients with acute allergic reactions of the sort described in Fisher's article to our short stay observation ward; a minority of these patients receive adrenaline, but . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

Fortnightly Review: Treatment of acute anaphylaxis
Malcolm Fisher
BMJ 1995 311: 731-733. [Abstract] [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Davies, H., Harris, J., Kakoo, A. (1996). Patients should be taught how to inject adrenaline. BMJ 312: 638-638 [Full text]  
  • Fisher, M. (1996). Treatment of acute anaphylaxis. BMJ 312: 637c-638 [Full text]  
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