LATEX AND MUSCLE-RELAXANTS - PREOPERATIVE ALLERGOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT IN ALLERGIC CHILDREN

Anaphylactic reactions to drugs were exceptionally observed in pediatr ic anesthesiological practice before 1990. The first intra-operative a naphylactic reaction to latex was described in 1989. Since that date, the incidence of such reactions to latex has been constantly increasin g; as has the incidence of anaphylactic reactions to muscle-relaxants. In a report of the French Society of Paediatric Anaesthesia survey, p ublished in 1993, the incidence of latex and muscle-relaxant reactions was 75 and 10 per cent respectively. The risk for developing such rea ctions must be assessed by preoperative allergological screening parti cularly, in atopic and multi-operated children.