1979 Volume 28 Issue 8 Pages 624-632
In 114 asthmatic patients treated with injections of a constant amount of antigens, such as house dust, mold or rice pollen extract, the effects of the hyposensitization therapy were eveluated retrospectively. The change of the threshold in intracutaneous skin tests was used as an indicator of the effects. The following results were obtained: 1) The threshold of the intracutaneous skin test was lowered in patients who received high-dose therapy, while it was raised in those who received low-dose therapy. 2) The threshold of the intracutaneous skin test increased when the ratio of "hyposensitization antigen doses vs threshold of intracutaneous skin test" was above 1:10, and decreased when it was below 1:100. 3) Regarding changes in the threshold of the intracutaneous skin test after hyposensitization, ameliorating (19.6%), constant (10.1%), escalating (13.8%), and undulating (56.5%) types were recognized. 4) The threshold in the undulating type had a tendency to decrease or increase by high or low dose therapy, respectively. 5) Tehre was a poor correlation between the changes of threshold and improvement of clinical signs. We suggest that the effect of hyposensitization depends upon the hyposensitization deses of antigen.
