Objective: Neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBA) are commonly used in general anesthetic applications, and are responsible for more than half of all anaphylactic reactions during general anesthesia. The aim of this study is to investigate the contribution of BasophilActivation Test (BAT) to the diagnosis in patients who developed an immediate drug hypersensitivity reaction due to rocuronium.
Materials and Methods: The study included 10 patients who developed urticaria and/or angioedema following rocuronium administration during anesthesia. Hypersensitivity to rocuronium was assesed with BAT including CD63 and CD203c expression analysis of blood samples by flow cytometry at least one month after the reactions.
Results: All patients were found positive for CD63 expression at the drug dilutions of 0.01 and 0.1 mg/ml, while nine (90%) patients were positive at the drug dose of 1 mg/ml. When assessing the CD203% expression at different drug dilutions, seven (70%) patients were found to be positive at the drug dilutions of 0.01 and 0.1 mg/ml, while eight (80%) were positive at the drug dose of 1 mg/ml.
Conclusion: This study has demonstrated that BAT can be used for diagnostic purposes in immediate drug hypersensitivity reactions to NMBA like rocuronium. The present study, to the best of our knowledge, is the first to assess the diagnostic significance of BAT in immediate drug hypersensitivity reactions caused by rocuronium in our country.