Laboratorios Diater

ALLERGY DIAGNOSIS

Diagnosis

In order to determine whether a patient is allergic, and to see what substance or allergen causes the allergic reaction, the specialist will conduct a study of the patient by means of a series of in vivo skin tests (prick test, provocations and intradermal) and in vitro skin tests (laboratory analysis consisting of detecting the levels of Ig E in the patient's serum).

Thus, Diater Laboratorios places at the specialist's disposal all the tests necessaries to the correct diagnosis whether the patience suffer from an allergy.

Prick-test

This test consists of administering the allergen or substance suspected of causing the allergic reaction by means of a dropper on the forearm of the patient. The epidermis is then pricked with a lancet and the leftover liquid is wiped off.

The patient will then wait around fifteen minutes, after which the physician will read the results according to the type of reaction that has occurred on the patient's skin.

If the patient is allergic, an inflamed and reddish wheal will appear in the place of the puncture, due to the release of histamine by the mastocytes; this means that the allergen can be responsible for many of the allergic symptoms.

In order to verify that the test was performed correctly, two controls will be used, positive and negative; if the test was carried out correctly a papule will have to appear in the area where the positive control was placed (histamine) and there will have to be an absence of any type of reaction for the negative control (saline solution).

Diater Laboratorios provides the specialist with an extensive catalogue of allergens for the correct diagnosis of the allergy.

Intradermal test

When the skin prick tests show a negative result and the specialist suspects that the allergen in question is the cause of the allergic reaction, another diagnostic method is often used: intradermal test or intradermal reaction (IDR) test, to assess the allergen or substance suspected of causing the allergic reaction.

Provocation test

Provocation test consists in the administration of the suspected allergen of causing the allergic reaction directly through the conjunctiva or respiratory tract (lung or nose) in order to reproduce the symptoms that occur during an allergic process.

There are three types of provocation tests:

Ophtalmical Provocation: application of the suspected substance in the conjunctiva of the eye. This test is generally conducted for a conjunctival pathology.

Nasal Provocation: in case of rhinitis, the allergen in question is sprayed in the nose.

Bronchial Provocation: inhalation of the allergen when there are pathologies that commonly occur with asthma or respiratory allergic processes.