Allergy And Anaphylaxis: Principles Of Acute Emergency Management

Allergic reactions and anaphylaxis are potentially life-threatening processes that present with a variety of clinical symptoms. Emergency clinicians must be able to recognize these presentations and make prompt clinical decisions regarding management of a patient's airway, treatment options, and disposition of a patient who improves after initial presentation. Furthermore, emergency clinicians may be faced with patients who have atypical presentations or require special consideration, such as high-risk patients with comorbid conditions and patients who do not respond to first-line treatments. An increasing number of patients in the United States carry allergy diagnoses, and it is expected that this subset of the population will continue to seek care in the emergency department. This review assesses the research and evidence on the diagnosis, etiology, and treatment of anaphylaxis, as well as the utilization of epinephrine, both in and out of the hospital setting.