title: Preseasonal intranasal immunotherapy in birch-alder allergic rhinitis. A double-blind study.
abstract: A double-blind, placebo-controlled study was carried out to test the clinical efficacy and safety of local nasal immunotherapy (LNIT) in powder form. Twenty-two patients suffering from allergic rhinitis strictly associated with early spring symptoms, with positive skin prick tests and RAST for birch-alder, all responders to a specific nasal provocation test (NPT), received randomly active or placebo treatment for 4 months. Immunotherapy consisted of administration of a set of capsules containing progressively increasing amounts of birch (Betula pendula) and speckled alder (Alnus incana) allergens in powder form with controlled granulometry. The active (birch-alder) and placebo (lactose) group completed the treatment according to a similar schedule. During the pollen season (March-April), the patients who took the active treatment reported less sneezing and rhinorrhea than the placebo group, on the basis of a symptoms score, and the differences were statistically significant; the need for drugs (terfenadine) was also significantly reduced. These findings agreed well with the results of specific NPT after the treatment; only patients in the active group had a higher threshold dose of nasal specific reactivity to birch-alder allergens than in tests before the LNIT.
authors.affiliation: Istituti Ospitalieri di Cremona, Center for Environmental Allergy, Cremona, Italy.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Cirla
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sforza
authors.forename: G P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Roffi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alessandrini
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stanizzi
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dorigo
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sala
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Della Torre
mesh_terms: D000281:Administration, Intranasal; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D011058:Pollen / Q000276:immunology*; D006255:Rhinitis, Allergic, Seasonal / Q000628:therapy*; D012621:Seasons; D014197:Trees / Q000276:immunology*