UMEM Educational Pearls

Category: Critical Care

Title: Anaphylaxis - Epinephrine use

Keywords: anaphylaxis, epinephrine (PubMed Search)

Posted: 8/21/2007 by Mike Winters, MD (Updated: 3/28/2024)
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-Epinephrine is the drug of choice for anaphylaxis -Several studies indicate that epi is underutilized in ED patients with anaphylaxis -Indications for epinephrine include bronchospasm, laryngeal edema (hoarseness, stridor, difficulty swallowing), hypotension, rapidly progressive reaction, and severe gastrointestinal symptoms (due to bowel edema) -The dose of epinephrine is 0.3 to 0.5 mL of 1:1000 IM -Pearl: IM injection into the lateral thigh (vastus lateralis) has been shown to produce considerably faster time to maximum drug concentration than subq injection or IM injection into the deltoid