title: Safety and tolerability of ultra-Rush (20 minutes) sublingual immunotherapy in patients with allergic rhinitis and/or asthma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The safety and good tolerability of sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) has already been proved in allergic patients, but only one study has investigated the occurrence of immediate adverse reactions in allergic patients after a 2-hour ultra-rush regimen of SLIT performed with a chemically modified extract (sublingual monomeric allergoid, Lais, Lofarma S.p.A., Milan). The objective of the present study was to evaluate the occurrence of immediate adverse reactions in allergic patients after a very fast (20 minutes) ultra-rush regimen of sublingual allergoid SLIT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We studied 105 patients: 28 children (20 male, mean age 13.3 +/- 2.1 yr) and 77 adults (29 male, mean age 34.7 +/- 9.9 years) with a history of intermittent/persistent rhinitis or intermittent/mild persistent asthma due to House Dust Mite (n = 56), Parietaria (n = 34) and Timothy-grass (n = 15) The build-up ultra-rush phase involved the administration, every five minutes, of increasing doses of the sublingual allergoid SLIT. All patients tolerated the treatment very well. Only one patient out of 105 (0.9%) had a mild local symptom (gastric pirosis) that occurred 30 minutes after the last initial dose and spontaneously disappeared as the treatment was continued.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data show the excellent safety and tolerability profile of an ultra-rush SLIT regimen performed with a chemically modified extract, even when high doses were administered through an extremely short induction phase (20 minutes), thus confirming the previously reported results.
authors.affiliation: Respiratory Center Disease-USL 5, Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gammeri
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arena
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: D'Anneo
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: La Grutta
mesh_terms: D000286:Administration, Sublingual; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000485:Allergens / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001249:Asthma / Q000628:therapy*; D002648:Child; D003888:Desensitization, Immunologic / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D004306:Dose-Response Relationship, Immunologic; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005260:Female; D006356:Heartburn / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012221:Rhinitis, Allergic, Perennial / Q000628:therapy*; D006255:Rhinitis, Allergic, Seasonal / Q000628:therapy*; D012995:Solubility; D013607:Tablets
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; D013607:Tablets