Allergen-specific immunotherapy: description, features and reviews

Allergy refers to the increased sensitivity of the body to any substance. Manifestations of this disease are most often rash, swelling, rhinitis, asthma, eczema and even necrosis. Symptomatic treatment of allergies is usually performed with the use of hormonal drugs and antihistamines. However, with the use of such therapy, one can only stop the manifestation of the disease itself. The very same allergy is not treated in this way. But medical technology, with which you can get rid of the disease itself, fortunately, still exists.

The use of allergen-specific therapy

As is known, in order to protect the body from infection with pathogenic viruses or bacteria, a method such as vaccination is used. Allergen-specific immunotherapy is somewhat similar to this technique. The patient is simply injected with microscopic doses of that substance, which causes a negative reaction. The allergen-specific therapy lasts for a very long time, from a few months.

During this time, the patient's body "gets used" to the action of the allergen. As a result, the patient passes all the signs of the disease.

Indications for therapy

Such treatment is usually prescribed only to people from 5 to 50 years old. Before embarking on therapy, the doctor must be 100% sure that the patient's disease is of an immunological nature.

Very good effect allergen-specific immunotherapy gives in the following cases:

• With conjunctivitis and seasonal rhinitis;

• Year-round rhinitis.

Also this technique is highly effective in the treatment of bronchial asthma and related diseases - cardiovascular, endocrine, gastroenterological and neurosis.

Can be treated with the use of a technique such as allergen-specific immunotherapy, and drug lupus. However, this technology is rarely used in this case. Apply ASIT in this disease can only when the drug-inducing drug is vital and replace it with nothing.

The elimination of contact with the allergen allows to prevent the development of negative symptoms, of course, much better than any therapy. No symptoms in the absence of an irritant in the patient can simply not be manifested. Therefore, an allergen-specific treatment is usually given only if it is impossible to exclude contact. For example, it would be advisable to use this technique if the patient has allergies to household dust, dermatitis products, etc.

What drugs can be used

Allergen-specific immunotherapy (ASIT) is carried out with application of:

• Purified allergens;

• Allergoids;

• Other modified allergens.

Standardization produced in Russia and used in such treatment as allergen-specific immunotherapy, drugs, are based on the content of protein nitrogen (PNU) in them. For example, medicines such as "Staloral" and "Fostal" can be used with ASIT.

How drugs work

The very mechanisms of ASIT are manifold. It can be:

• Alteration of cytokine and immune metabolism;

• The production of blocking antibodies;

• Segregation of the mediator component of allergic inflammation;

• Decreased production of IgE.

ASIT can inhibit both late and early stages of an immediate allergic reaction. Also, when carrying out such therapy, the cellular picture of inflammation and bronchial hyperactivity in asthma are inhibited.

How is the treatment performed?

Allergen-specific immunotherapy can be prescribed and administered, of course, only by a professional doctor (and only having relevant experience). You can not use this method yourself. An error in the dosages of an allergic vaccine can even lead to the death of the patient.

To apply such immunotherapy is allowed only in the out-of-impairment period of the disease. Previously, the patient should be eliminated inflammatory processes in the lungs and other foci of chronic infections.

Allergen-specific immunotherapy begins with the lowest doses of the drug. Substance-stimulants are injected most often. Sometimes for therapy, tablets or powder are also used. Subsequently, the dosage is gradually increased.

The frequency of the drug in most cases is 2-3 times a week. The standard full course is 25-50 injections. Patients should be prescribed injections using disposable insulin syringes. Do injections with immunotherapy subcutaneously.

What courses can be conducted

There are no standard treatment regimens for ASIT. Therapy is performed by a doctor in accordance with the individual characteristics of the patient's body and the course of his illness. Classify ASIT can only be for the following types:

• Short course preseason;

• Full preseason course;

• Year-round therapy.

You can also highlight the main phases of treatment using this technique:

1. Preparation . At this stage, the doctor carefully examines the patient's medical history and conducts an examination. Further, the cause-dependent allergen and the degree of sensitivity of the organism to it (using samples) are determined. Proceeding from this, the necessary preparation and its dose are chosen.

2. The initiating phase. At this stage, the patient is started to inject the drug with a gradual increase in the dose.

3. Supporting phase . This stage can last from 3 to 5 years. During this time the patient regularly takes the prescribed medication and is under the most careful supervision of the doctor.

special instructions

After the administration of a dose of the drug, the patient's body begins to experience a serious load for quite understandable reasons. Therefore, it is strictly forbidden to do such injections to the patient simultaneously with any preventive vaccination. The consequences of not meeting this important condition can be really very heavy. Also during the course of treatment, it is necessary to completely exclude the additional effect on the patient's body of allergens.

Contraindications

It is strictly forbidden to conduct allergen-specific immunotherapy with:

• Pregnancy of the patient;

• Presence of acute infectious processes in the patient;

• Permanent form of bronchial asthma grade 2-3;

• Complications in the most allergic disease;

• Presence of tumor pathologies;

• Mental illness in the acute stage;

• High immunoglobulin E.

With caution apply this technology to patients:

• Under the age of 5 and over 50;

• Having skin pathologies;

• Suffering from chronic infectious diseases;

• With poor skin sensitivity to the allergen.

Side effects

Of course, when carrying out such therapy, the patient can manifest all kinds of negative reactions of the body. Side effects when using an allergen-specific treatment are as follows:

1. Skin redness and swelling at the injection site. Such a reaction usually occurs about half an hour after the administration of the drug. In the presence of such a side effect, the dose of the used allergen should be reduced.

2. Raise the patient's body temperature or skin rashes. Such reactions usually appear immediately after the administration of the drug. In this case, dosages are also usually reduced.

How effective can therapy be

At the moment, allergen-specific immunotherapy is the only method for treating allergies and bronchial asthma, which directly affects the immunological nature of the disease. After completing the full course by all the rules, patients usually have a long-term remission. In allergic rhinitis and polynomia, an excellent effect of this therapy is for 90% of patients. It was also noted that the best results in terms of treatment with ASIT can be achieved in young patients.

The expressed clinical effect in patients is usually manifested only after 3-5 courses of ASIT. But improvements are noticeable more often after the first one. The reaction of the patient's body to stimuli becomes less pronounced.

Allergen-specific immunotherapy: question price

The cost of treatment according to the ASIT method depends primarily on the type of the stimulus that causes the reaction. A doctor's examination of the corresponding specialization usually costs about 900 rubles. For treatment for allergies to pollen of trees and grasses from the patient can take, for example, from 6 to 12 thousand rubles., On ticks home dust - from 8 to 14.5 thousand rubles.

Allergen-specific immunotherapy: patient feedback

The opinion on this technology of treatment among the patients was very good. Some patients consider ASIT to be the only effective technique for treating allergies. After the course, many patients, they said, finally begin to "live a full life." Praise this technique as patients with rhinitis, and Quinck's edema, and other manifestations of allergies.

Sometimes it happens that the technique does not help the patient. But in any case, as many patients note, it almost never does any harm. It is considered a disadvantage of such a technique as allergen-specific immunotherapy, the cost of courses. Of course, not every patient can pay for 12-14 thousand for treatment.