CAN CLINICAL ANAPHYLAXIS TO ANAESTHETIC DRUGS BE PREDICTED FROM ALLERGIC HISTORY?

Abstract
The incidence of a history of allergy, atopy or asthma is greater in patients who undergo lifethreatening clinical anaphylaxis to anaesthetic drugs. However, because the incidence is low, the presence of such a history is not a reliable predictor of the likelihood of a reaction in an individual patient, and does not indicate that the patient should be investigated or pretreated, or that the selection of drug(s) be altered to reduce the likelihood of a reaction.