Preseasonal intranasal immunotherapy in birch-alder allergic rhinitis. A double-blind study.
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.
Cirla
A M
AM
Istituti Ospitalieri di Cremona, Center for Environmental Allergy, Cremona, Italy.
Sforza
N
N
Roffi
G P
GP
Alessandrini
A
A
Stanizzi
R
R
Dorigo
N
N
Sala
E
E
Della Torre
F
F
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*