Abstrakt

Efficacy monitoring of immunotherapy (IT) is performed to adjust the therapy according to the patients reactions, to collect data for scientific studies and to evaluate the efficacy of IT. A decrease of allergy symptoms and of drug use are the main efficacy parameters obtained by using the symptom-medication-score (SMS). For this, allergy diaries, skin tests and nasal provocation testing are most suitable. During the period of documentation pollen exposition should be monitored with Burkhard traps. In cytologic measures specific cell activation markers and specific lymphokine-profiles can be evaluated. For the reason of their expense, those methods are restricted to scientific investigations and only rarely for routine diagnostics. Numerous clinical trials have investigated the efficacy and safety of sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) using symptom- and medication-scores. The results suggest that high allergen doses are necessary to achieve adequate efficacy. An alternative approach to assess the outcome of allergen-specific immunotherapy was investigated by a new high-dose sublingual 6-grass pollen preparation. This sublingual immunotherapy significantly improved the symptom-medication-score (SMS) in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial by counting “well days” (days without intake of any rescue medication and a reduction of the symptom-score) during the grass pollen season. This post-hoc analysis showed that SLIT for 1.5 years resulted in a significantly higher number of “well days” than with placebo. These results reflect the high improvement in symptom-medication-score. “Well days” can therefore be regarded as a further variable to measure efficacy of allergen-specific immunotherapy.

Autoreninformation

Autoren

• S. Vorwalder
• O. Pfaar
• L. Klimek

Abteilungen

• Zentrum für Rhinologie und Allergologie der HNO-Universitätsklinik Mannheim, Wiesbaden

Adresse

Stefanie Vorwalder
Zentrum für Rhinologie und Allergologie
HNO-Universitätsklinik Mannheim
An den Quellen 10
D–65183 Wiesbaden
Email: [email protected]

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