Accumulation of eosinophils, mast cells, and basophils in the spleen and the coronary arteries in anaphylactic deaths: Is the Kounis hypersensitivity associated syndrome present?

摘要

In a very interesting study published in Forensic Science, Medicine, and Pathology [1] it was found that measurement of eosinophils and mast cells in the spleen combined with serum tryptase measurement could diagnose anaphy-laxis and anaphylactic death with a high degree of certainty. The authors stated that anaphylactic death cannot be diagnosed by autopsy alone or by counting mast cells in the lung and airways because these methods have failed to give consistent results. The search for other tissues infiltrated by allergic inflammatory cells could prove of paramount importance in diagnosing anaphylactic sudden death. They recommended that splenic tissue should be sampled for immunohistochemical examination in all cases of unwitnessed sudden death.