Allergy

Survey for a suspected perioperative hypersensitivity reaction.

Dear colleagues,

As you likely know, immediate perioperative hypersensitivity (POH) reactions constitute a significant health problem with serious consequences if diagnosis is wrong. However, correct identification of the culprit agent(s) is challenging, given the simultaneous exposure to multiple agents. Moreover, anaesthetized patients can demonstrate normal variations in vital signs which can be misinterpreted as POH and vice versa.
Key information (which can only be provided by the attending anaesthetist who witnessed the reaction) for correct orientation of diagnostic tests, consists of a detailed description of the suspected reaction and the administered drugs as well as measurement of mast cell tryptase ideally drawn 60-90 minutes after onset.

A working group of anaesthetists and allergists created and recently updated the survey for a suspected POH reaction.

Paper version available here:

Upon referral of a patient for allergologic work-up after a suspected POH, we would kindly ask you to fill in a standardized questionnaire that should help making the correct diagnosis and guide safe future anaesthesia. In the future these files could help us to create a database accessible to all anaesthetists.

For referrals to the department of allergy of Antwerp University Hospital (UZA) and AZ Jan Palfijn Ghent, an online survey can be filled in and the data will be sent to an encrypted database, only available for the treating physician.
For referral to other departments of allergy, a pdf file can be printed out and handed over to the allergist by patient.

This pdf can also be transferred to the medical record of the patient.

We thank you for your cooperation

Kind regards,

For the working group,

Anaesthetists: L. Sermeus, F. Soetens, R. Van den Eynde

Allergists: D. Ebo, F. Pirson, V. Sabato, R. Schrijvers , M-L. Vander Poorten