Hypersensitivity to Cimetidine

Excerpt

To the editor: Cimetidine (Tagamet; Smith Kline & French, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), a specific H2 receptor antagonist, has been widely used in medical practice with remarkably few adverse reactions (1) since its introduction in 1976. In 1981, Sawyer and associates published "Cimetidine: Adverse Reactions and Acute Toxicity" (2), containing approximately 100 reports of acute Cimetidine toxicity; there was no mention of any report of type I hypersensitivity. Our review of the literature showed one previous report (3) of a type I hypersensitivity response to Cimetidine in which a 35-year-old woman developed facial edema, laryngospasm and dyspnea related to Cimetidine administration. The