Cutaneous Drug Hypersensitivity: Clinical Features, Mechanisms, Diagnosis, and Management

This book covers all aspects of hypersensitivity to drugs, providing practical information for non-specialist physicians as well as addressing issues of interest to practitioners in different specialties and presenting the expert knowledge required by specialist allergists and immunologists. The opening, general section discusses basics such as clinical manifestations, histopathology, mechanisms, risk factors, drug hypersensitivity in particular populations, and the full range of diagnostic methods. The second part of the book provides concise information on the most important drug classes and guides the reader on how to proceed when patients present with a suspected reaction. For each drug class, the current level of evidence for use of the different diagnostic tools, including skin tests, provocation tests, and in vitro tests, is clarified, and management options, outlined. The inclusion of helpful tables and algorithms is designed to aid in decision making. Drug hypersensitivityis among the more complex allergological issues, and this book will meet the needs of general practitioners, internists, and specialists.

Andreas J. Bircher is emerited Clinical Professor, and was until June 2018 Head of the Allergy Unit, and Vice Chairman of the Department of Dermatology at the University Hospital Basel, Switzerland. He is an accredited specialist in Dermatology/Venereology and Allergology/Clinical Immunology. He was awarded the Teaching Excellence Award of the University of Basel in 2017. From 2018 on he is Associated Professor at the Università della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, Switzerland where he is involved in the planning and set-up of the new curriculum of the Master in Medicine, and is responsible for the module “Immune Disorders” including Dermatology, Allergology, Immunology and Rheumatology. Dr. Bircher is a cofounding member of the European Network on Drug Allergy (ENDA), a member of the Drug Hypersensitivity Interest Group (EAACI), and a member of the leading national and international scientific societies in the field. His clinical and research work focuses on drug hypersensitivity, and his Habilitation thesis on drug hypersensitivity was published in 1996 by Thieme (Arzneimittelallergie und Haut).

Howard Maibach is a professor in the Department of Dermatology at University of California, San Francisco and an internationally acknowledged expert in contact and occupational dermatitis, skin exposure toxicity, allergies and skin disorders, and dermatopharmacology. Dr. Maibach has been on the editorial board of more than 30 scientific journals and is a member of 19 professional societies, including the American Academy of Dermatology, San Francisco Dermatological Society, and the Internal Commission on Occupation Health.

Prof. Dr. med. Annick Barbaud, MD, PhD is University professor and Head expert for Dermatology and Allergology. After studying medicine at the Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital, Dr Barbaud joined the Nancy University Hospital. Passionate about immunology, she quickly specialized in allergology and focused her fundamental research on the subject of drug induced skin eruptions. Appointed University Professor, she heads a very active research unit whose work is internationally recognized. In 2016, she moved to Paris, becoming the head of the Dermatology and Allergy department of Tenon hospital in the AP-HP.Sorbonne University. This department is the most important for skin and drug allergies in Paris region. She is the secretary of the Board of the Drug Allergy interest group of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, secretary of the European Network for Drug Allergy, the Co-founder and past-president of the “FISARD-Toxidermie" group and the founder of the  "Dermato-allergology" group of the French Society of Dermatology. She is also the past President of the Groupe d’Etude et Recherche en Dermato-allergologie (GERDA). Her main topics focus is on contact dermatitis, cutaneous adverse drug reactions and standardisation of allergy work-up in drug allergy.

Prof. Dr. med.Knut Brockow is Associate professor and Head of the Allergy Unit at the Department of Dermatology and Allergology Biederstein, Technical University of Munich. After his Medical studies at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn with internships in Harare (Zimbabwe), Glarus (Switzerland) and Bonn, he passed the American state examination (ECFMG parts 1 and 2). Prof. Brockow completed his specialist training at the University Dermatology Clinic Hamburg Eppendorf and the Department of Dermatology and Allergology Biederstein, Technical University of Munich. His habilitation topic was on the topic “Mast cells, mediators and mutations in mastocytosis”. His activities include a two-year Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the Laboratory of Allergic Diseases (Head: Dr. Dean Metcalfe), NIAID, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA as a fellow of the John E. Fogarty International Center, Bethesda, USA. Dr. Brockow is a past president of the European Network on Drug Allergy (ENDA), a member of theDrug Hypersensitivity Interest Group (EAACI), the chair of the drug allergy section of the German scientific Allergy society and the EAACI Exam Committee Chair. His main research fucus is on anaphylaxis, mast cell diseases  and particularly drug hypersensitivity.