RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Allergic reactions are known to be associated with symptomatic aggravation of atopic dermatitis. Skin prick tests were used as a routine in vivo screening test for the evaluation of allergic patients. Many tests to detect specific IgE antibody including RAST, FAST and MAST chemilu-minescent assay (MAST-C~LA) were also used. Previous studies revealed that the results of skin prick tests and MAST-CLA were well correlated in patients with asthma, allergic rhinitis and urticaria. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of MAST-CLA compared with skin prick tests in patients with atopic dermatitis. METHODS: We performed the chemiluminescent assay with 35 allergens and skin prick tests with 23 allergens common with allergens used in MAST-CLA in 34 patients with atopic dermatitis. The positive reaction rate of allergens in each test and sensitivity, specificity, efficiency, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of MAST-CLA to the skin prick test were evaluated and MAST net volts of serum total IgE was compared with PRIST.