title: Prognos in the diagnosis of amalgam hypersensitivity a diagnostic case-control study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to investigate whether the Prognos device might be a useful tool in the diagnosis of disorders suspected to be due to dental amalgam fillings.
  
  
  METHODS
  A diagnostic case-control study was performed in 27 patients who complained about health problems attributed to amalgam (cases), 27 healthy volunteers with amalgam fillings (controls I), and 27 healthy amalgamfree volunteers (controls II). All participants were tested before and after application of 300 mg DMPS (2.3-dimercapto- 1-propanesulfonic acid) with Prognos, a diagnostic device for the energetic measurement of Traditional Chinese Medicine meridians. In addition, mercury was measured in blood, urine, and saliva, and a lymphocyte transformation test (LTT) was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Diagnoses derived from the first and second Prognos testing did not agree above chance (Cohen's Kappa = -0.11, 95% confidence interval -0.33 to 0.10; p = 0.30). Agreement for secondary outcome measures was poor, too. Prognos measurements did not differ between cases and controls. Correlations with measurements in urine, blood and saliva were low.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this study Prognos could not be shown to be a useful tool in the diagnosis of disorders suspected to be due to dental amalgam fillings.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Complementary Medicine Research, Department of Internal Medicine II, echnische Universität München, Germany.
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Köhler
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Linde
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Halbach
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zilker
authors.forename: Leo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kremers
authors.forename: Reinhard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Saller
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Melchart
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002614:Chelating Agents; D003723:Dental Amalgam / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008630:Mercury Poisoning / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000652:urine; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014494:Unithiol
chemical_list: D002614:Chelating Agents; D014494:Unithiol; D003723:Dental Amalgam