Accurately diagnosing allergy

Allergy patients with chronic cough and colds are sometimes bombarded with antibiotics and other medications without any improvement.

Accurate diagnostic blood tests for allergy such as the ImmunoCAP tests, when used in combination with family history and medical evaluation, decrease the unnecessary use of these medications and improve the management of allergies by accurately diagnosing the condition in afflicted allergy patients.

This information was the key message in a study published in an American journal.

Allergy is a prevalent problem worldwide, including the Philippines, and diagnosing it accurately has remained a major challenge.

Conversely, non-allergic cases are also misdiagnosed to be allergic in cause and are inappropriately treated with antihistamines or steroids. This treatment challenge highlights the need for an accurate diagnostic test to confirm or rule out allergy.

“This paper supports the broader use of blood tests, like ImmunoCAP, to accurately diagnose allergic rhinitis,” said lead author Wade Brosius from the Pottstown Memorial Medical Center.

“It is prudent to use a diagnostic blood test before treatment begins because the test provides objective evidence about the presence or absence of allergies,” Brosius added.

According to the authors, correctly diagnosing inhalant allergies on the basis of symptoms, patient history and physical examination, without diagnostic testing, may pose some problems.

They caution that a complete history and physical evaluation in patients with nasal symptoms provides an accurate diagnosis of allergic rhinitis in only 50 to 66 percent of cases.

“Allergy-like symptoms are often caused by other non-allergic conditions, so proper treatment always depends on accurate diagnosis,” said Brosius.

“ImmunoCAP plays an important role to rule allergies in or out, guide treatment strategies and ultimately improve care for patients,” Brosius added.

This article also reminded medical practitioners that half of rhinitis (runny nose) patients suffer from non-allergic rhinitis and antihistamines cannot work in these diseases.

ImmunoCAP Specific IgE blood test allows doctors to identify the allergen or substance causing the allergy in patients as young as three months old.

It uses only a small blood sample to detect the presence of an antibody circulating in the blood when the body is fighting an allergen.

Now considered the gold standard in allergy diagnosis which most modern medical centers have worldwide, it is safe and effective for adults and children.

ImmunoCAP was the first allergy test to be accepted by the US FDA as a truly quantitative test for pinpointing allergens and the National Institutes of Health now accept allergy blood testing for asthma patients.

Phadia AB, with headquarters in Uppsala, Sweden, is the world leader in in-vitro IgE diagnostic research and product development.

This breakthrough technology to diagnose allergy is now available in modern hospitals and laboratories including the Manila Doctors Hospital, The Medical City, Makati Medical Center, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, Philippine General Hospital-MRL, VRPMC, Fe del Mundo Medical Center, Clinica Manila, Our Lady of Mercy Diagnostics (Davao), Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Medical Center (Pampanga), St. Patrick’s Hospital Medical Center (Batangas City), Mary Mediatrix Medical Center (Lipa City), and Laguna Health Services Coop Lab (San Pablo City). 

Other world-class hospitals in Metro Manila, Cebu and Davao are also currently arranging to have the ImmunoCAP machine installed in their laboratories, said Larni Almonte, national sales and marketing manager of Trianon Diagnostics, the exclusive local distributor of the ImmunoCAP system.

For inquiries, interested parties may call 892-0723 or 24.