heroin and Anaphylaxis

A 42-year-old male underwent a total hip arthroplasty under subarachnoid anaesthesia with intrathecal bupivacaine and diamorphine. Shortly after the start of surgery, he suffered an allergic reaction that, at first, was difficult to distinguish from the recognised side-effects of intrathecal diamorphine. Once the diagnosis was made, he was treated with adrenaline and made a full recovery. The serum concentration of mast cell tryptase approximately 1.5h after the onset of the adverse incident confirmed an anaphylactic reaction. Skin prick testing several weeks later identified diamorphine as the likely causative agent, a drug overlooked initially as a potential cause. We believe this is the first report of intrathecal diamorphine causing anaphylaxis.

Topics: Adult; Anaphylaxis; Ephedrine; Epinephrine; Heroin; Humans; Hydrocortisone; Injections, Spinal; Male; Molecular Structure; Sodium Chloride

Pulmonary edema complicating heroin overdosage is a well recognized entity and regarded as the major mechanism contributing to death in heroin addicts. It's pathogenesis is unknown, several mechanisms are discussed: hypoxia-induced increase of pulmonary capillary permeability, depressed myocardial contractility, centrally induced respiratory depression, primary toxic effects on the alveolar capillaries and acute anaphylactic shock. The present study included opiate-related deaths (n=23) and a control group of sudden cardiovascular deaths (n=12) to verify the hypothesis, that defects of the alveolar capillary membranes and/or an acute anaphylactic reaction leads to pulmonary congestion, edema and hemorrhages. Lung specimens were obtained from these 35 autopsies of persons autopsied in the Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bonn, in 1997 and 1998. All specimens were examined with hematoxylin-eosin, prussian blue and investigated with immunohistological methods using primary antibodies against collagen IV, laminin and IgE. Defects of the basal laminae of the alveoli were found, demonstrated by laminin and collagen IV, and the number of IgE-positive cells was counted in both groups. There was an increased but not significant number of IgE-positive cells in the heroin-group and defects of the epithelial and endothelial basal laminae were found in both groups without significant differences.

Topics: Anaphylaxis; Antibodies; Basement Membrane; Capillaries; Capillary Permeability; Cause of Death; Collagen; Coloring Agents; Death, Sudden, Cardiac; Drug Overdose; Endothelium, Vascular; Epithelial Cells; Female; Hemorrhage; Heroin; Heroin Dependence; Humans; Hypoxia; Immunoglobulin E; Immunohistochemistry; Laminin; Male; Myocardial Contraction; Narcotics; Pulmonary Alveoli; Pulmonary Edema; Respiration