Severe Anaphylactoid Reactions to Cuprammonium Cellulose Hemodialyzers

John T. Daugirdas, Todd S. Ing*, David M. Roxe, Peter T. Ivanovich, Frank Krumlovsky, Subhash Popli, Mary M. Mclaughlin

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

65 Scopus citations

Abstract

• Twenty-one severe reactions to hemodialysis occurred in approximately 260,000 dialysis treatments at three centers within a 10½-year period. Reactions typically appeared within minutes of initiating dialysis, and were characterized by cardiopulmonary, mucocutaneous, and/or gastrointestinal tract symptoms highly suggestive of anaphylaxis. Four respiratory arrests and one death resulted. Analysis of dialyzer use patterns and of each patient’s dialyzer exposure history strongly implicated hollow-fiber dialyzers made of cuprammonium cellulose (CC) as a cause of these reactions. No obvious factors could be found to identify predisposed patients. Less than optimal rinsing of the CC hollow-fiber dialyzers prior to use may have been responsible for some, but not all, of these reactions.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)489-494
Number of pages6
JournalArchives of Internal Medicine
Volume145
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 1985
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Internal Medicine

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