title: Allergic reactions to phenytoin in a general hospital in Singapore.
abstract: Phenytoin is used for the treatment and prevention of fits. We investigated all patients reported to have phenytoin allergy in our hospital and found 42 confirmed cases. Sixty-nine percent were female and 83.3% were Chinese. The mean age of the patients was 46.5 years. The reactions reported were maculopapular rash (71.4%), Stevens-Johnson syndrome (14.3%), fever (4.8%), generalized exfoliative dermatitis (2.4%), toxic epidermal necrolysis (2.4%), vasculitis (2.4%) and agranulocytosis (2.4%). In conclusion, the majority of reported allergic reactions to phenytoin were cutaneous (92.9%) and one fifth of these were potentially life-threatening.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore.
authors.forename: K P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Leong
authors.forename: H H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Chng
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004342:Drug Hypersensitivity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006769:Hospitals, General; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010672:Phenytoin / Q000009:adverse effects*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012846:Singapore / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000927:Anticonvulsants; D010672:Phenytoin