Life-threatening Anaphylactic Shock Due to Chlorhexidine on the Central Venous Catheter: a Case Series
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In this article, we report two life-threatening anaphylactic shocks by an antiseptic coated central venous catheter (CVC) within a 6-month period in our cancer center. Anaphylactic shock was preceded immediately after insertion of a central venous catheter (CVC) coated with silver sulphadiazine and chlorhexidine acetate (Blue FlexTip(®) ARROWg(+)ard Blue(®), 14Ga, Arrow International, Inc. USA). Though antiseptic coated CVC anaphylaxis has been reported in Japan, Europe and America, to our knowledge, this is first reported in China. We present these rare cases to remind clinicians about hypersensitivity to chlorhexidine that could potentially be life-threatening.
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