Fatal anaphylactic shock due to hymenoptera venom in a farmer suffering from indolent systemic mastocytosis. The comparative diagnostic relevance of perimortem serum tryptase levels
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Simonit, Francesco
Perogio, Maurizio
Visentini, Daniela
Reccardini, Federico
Tse, Rexson
Garland, Jack
Ondruschka, Benjamin
Desinan, Lorenzo
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Abstract
Hymenoptera anaphylaxis led to the death of a bee and wasp venom sensitized 41-year-old man suffering from systemic indolent mastocytosis. While at work in a vineyard, the man suffered a serious anaphylactic crisis and cardiovascular arrest; despite ongoing attempts of resuscitation, he died in hospital 12 h after being stung. Autopsy confirmed that death was due to post-anoxic brain damage, cardiovascular shock, disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) and multi-organ failure (MOF). ICU blood samples drawn before the patient’s death from the distal extremity of the pulmonary catheter revealed central blood tryptase levels of 8955 ng/mL; samples drawn 6 days after death, at autopsy, confirmed anaphylaxis diagnostic central blood total tryptase levels (4977 ng/mL) and peripheral blood levels (319 ng/mL); IgE levels in ICU blood sample suggested that the farmer was a responder to venom immunoteraphy (VIT) for Apis Mellifera (IgE 0.44 kUI/L) but not for Polistes Dominulus (IgE 3.13 kUI/L) yet. The comparison of perimortem laboratory results was crucial, in association with autopsy findings and circumstantial data, in ascertaining that death was caused by a wasp venom anaphylactic reaction, with key findings being: 1) Significantly high pre-mortem (8955 ng/mL) and post-mortem (4977 ng/mL) central blood tryptase levels. 2) High post-mortem peripheral blood tryptase levels (319 ng/mL). 3) High pre-mortem central blood IgE antibodies against Polistes Dominulus.
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International Journal of Legal Medicine
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© The Author(s) 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
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Da Broi, U; Simonit, F; Perogio, M; Visentini, D; Reccardini, F; Tse, R; Garland, J; Ondruschka, B; Desinan, L, Fatal anaphylactic shock due to hymenoptera venom in a farmer suffering from indolent systemic mastocytosis. The comparative diagnostic relevance of perimortem serum tryptase levels, International Journal of Legal Medicine, 2025