Tests for Allergies
Tests for Allergies - How the latest technology helps you
Endpoint Titration - The most advanced allergy skin test
method
Modern Allergy Tests make life a lot easier
Allergy symptoms are responsible for more visits to the doctor's office than any other single disease in this country. Over 40 million Americans (about 1 in 5) suffer from one or more of the allergic diseases. Allergies are considered a leading cause of school absenteeism, too. Fortunately, your doctor has a wide range of innovative testing and treatment techniques to make dealing with allergies a lot easier than before.
Early allergy discoveries.
Allergy as a recognizable illness is nearly as old as the history of modern man. However, it was not until 1966 that the exact mechanism for the disease was discovered. Researchers found that some people produce a "skin sensitizing antibody" called IgE when exposed to allergens such as dust, ragweed and grass pollens.
Allergic patients inherit the tendency to produce an overabundance of IgE when exposed to allergens such as dust, ragweed and grass pollens.
What causes an allergic reaction?
A typical allergic reaction happens in the following way:
How allergies are diagnosed.
Accurate diagnosis of your allergy is key to successful treatment. In order to determine the specific allergens responsible, your physician will take the following steps:
History
:
Reviewing history can establish how and when the symptoms appear, whether they are seasonal or year-round, and whether or not they can be associated with any particular activity, place or exposure.
Physical Exam
:
Your physical examination will focus on the eyes, ears, nose, sinuses, throat, lungs, skin and gastrointestinal tract. Results of the exam will be more informative if performed "in season", or while the symptoms are at their peak.
Testing
:
Until the discovery of IgE, the skin test was the major diagnostic tool for allergies. With this method, approximately 50 to 200 tiny scratches, pricks, or needle sticks are made - usually on the upper back or arm - with small amounts of suspected allergens. After an appropriate time period (10-30 minutes), the skin is observed for any reaction.
A new, improved test - RAST.
Soon after the IgE antibody was discovered, researchers began to work on a new kind of test, generally referred to as RAST. Today, after years of clinical testing, RAST is used to help doctors identify the cause of your allergy.
RAST is a laboratory procedure which utilizes a test tube, rather than a needle stick reaction, as in skin tests.
A small part of your blood sample is mixed with different allergens and observed for a chemical reaction. The laboratory's equipment and computers analyze the reaction and measure the amount of IgE for each allergen. Results are grouped into classes from Zero (negative) to five (high positive). Your doctor will discuss the importance of these results with you.
The advantages of RAST testing:
Convenient.
Since a single blood sample is used to test for many allergens, and serum may be stored for later testing, fewer patient visits are required. It is easier to subject children to one stick for a RAST than multiple needle sticks for skin tests.
Safe..
RAST measures only IgE, and is not affected by any medications you may be taking.
Dependable..
Strict laboratory procedures are followed to provide precise and accurate results. RAST is one of the most sensitive methods available today - it can detect even mild allergies.
We're here to help.
This office has the newest diagnostic testing and treatment procedures available to put to work for you. We'll perform the appropriate tests, develop an effective treatment plan and provide helpful hints to help make living with allergies a lot easier.
Endpoint Titration
The Most Advanced Allergy Skin Test Method
There are several ways to test individuals for allergies. No one test is infallible in every case because human beings differ widely in their reactions. However, the experience of thousands of physicians, in ear, nose and throat, and many other specialties, indicates that of all skin test varieties one form gives superior results in the majority of patients.
That test procedure is called 'Serial Dilution Endpoint Titration', often shortened to 'Serial Dilution' or just plain 'Titration'. When your doctor or nurse speaks of "titraing" you, it means you will be tested according to this standard medical procedure.
First, your doctor will advise you to refrain from taking certain medicines for a minimum time period before the titration is to be done. This is very important and your cooperation is essential. Some medications may alter the test results so much that they will need to be repeated.
There is very little discomfort from the titration technique. A series of small injections, using very fine needles, is made in rows on your arms. Only a small amount of the test substance (called the antigen) is injected. The result is a series of bumps which look like small mosquito bites.
After waiting approximately 10 minutes, the test administrator will examine each injection bump, which is called a wheal. These are carefully measured in diameter and the results are recorded in millimeters. Certain larger wheals are the indication of an allergy to the substance injected. The size of the wheal helps your doctor determine how sensitive you are to and what dose to safely begin you desensitization to that allergen.
In fact, the shots you will be given to treat your allergies will be measures out according to these test results. The test is called a serial dilution endpoint titration because the test wheals are precisely measured, graduated doses of allergy-causing substances, diluted according to strict mathematical ratios.
In most cases, the titration for a given allergen is accomplished in one or two visits, allowing your treatment to start at once. The object is to give you at least a measure of relief from your allergies, as quickly as possible.
The titration method has several advantages over other test procedures. For one thing, it gives fewer false results; it is less likely to give a positive sign when you really don't have an allergy to a particular antigen. For another, it gives more precise results, which can be measured in useful numbers as a guide to how sensitive you are to each antigen. And no less valuable is the fact that titration testing, as well as the treatment it indicates, can be done during the season when your allergies give you the most trouble. You don't have to wait for an out-of-season "quiet" spell to get started on the way to relief.
Titration testing is a proven procedure used by thousands of America's allergists. This technique is receiving wider recognition among physicians, and it is the subject of intensive research conducted in clinics, hospitals, and university medical schools, to refine, and improve this valuable medical tool. As such, it is one of the most reliable allergy tests available and will enable your doctor to provide you with relief from your allergies in the shortest period of time.
If you have any questions about titration, your doctor is eager to discuss them with you. Feel free to ask anything you do not understand, because close cooperation and constant communication between doctor and patient are especially necessary in the treatment of allergies.
And helping you overcome your allergies is our constant goal.