Autologous serum therapy in chronic urticaria: old wine in a new bottle.
Indian J Dermatol Venereol Leprol
;
2008 Mar-Apr; 74(2): 109-13
Article
in English
| IMSEAR
| ID: sea-52356
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Chronic urticaria (CU) is one of the most challenging and frustrating therapeutic problems faced by a dermatologist. A recent demonstration of abnormal type 1 reactions to intradermal autologous serum injections in some CU patients has led to the characterization of a new subgroup of "autoimmune chronic urticaria". This has rekindled interest in the age-old practice of autologous blood injections as a theoretically sound treatment option in these patients.AIMS:
To evaluate the efficacy of repeated autologous serum injections (ASIs) in patients with recalcitrant chronic urticaria.METHODS:
A cohort of 62 (32 females) CU patients with a positive autologous serum skin test (ASST) (group 1) was prospectively analyzed for the efficacy of nine consecutive weekly autologous serum injections with a postintervention follow-up of 12 weeks. Another group of 13 (seven females) CU patients with negative ASST (group 2) was also treated similarly. In both groups, six separate parameters of disease severity and activity were recorded.RESULTS:
Demographic and disease variables were comparable in both groups. The mean duration of disease was 1.9 +/- 0.3 years (range = 3 months to 32 years) in group 1 and 1.5 +/- 0.2 years (range = 3 months to 10 years) in group 2. In the ASST (+) group, 35.5% patients were completely asymptomatic at the end of the follow-up while an additional 24.2% were markedly improved. In the ASST (-) group, these figures were 23 and 23% respectively. The intergroup difference for complete subsidence was statistically significant (P < 0.05). In both groups, the most marked reduction was seen in pruritus and antihistamine use scores followed by the size and frequency of the wheals.CONCLUSION:
Autologous serum therapy is effective in a significant proportion of ASST (+) patients with CU. A smaller but still substantial number of ASST (-) patients also benefited from this treatment.
Full text:
Available
Index:
IMSEAR (South-East Asia)
Main subject:
Urticaria
/
Blood Transfusion, Autologous
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Chronic Disease
/
Cohort Studies
/
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Serum
Type of study:
Etiology study
/
Incidence study
/
Observational study
/
Risk factors
Language:
English
Journal:
Indian J Dermatol Venereol Leprol
Year:
2008
Type:
Article
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