A PROSPECTIVE SAFETY-MONITORING STUDY OF IMMUNOTHERAPY IN MITE-ALLERGY PATIENTS WITH MASS-UNITS-STANDARDIZED EXTRACT

To determine the tolerance of an allergen extract standardized in mass units, we closely monitored the side-effects, during the buildup phas e of immunotherapy treatment, in 88 patients with well-documented resp iratory allergy to house-dust mite (Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus). T hirty-four patients (38.6%) suffered from moderate perennial rhinitis, and 54 had mild to moderate bronchial asthma (61.4%). For the desensi tizing treatment, we used a depot extract adsorbed in aluminum hydroxi de of D. pteronyssinus (Pangramin(R) Depot UM), biologically standardi zed and having the major allergens Der p 1 and Der p 2 quantified in m icrograms. A total of 1244 doses were administered. All patients excep t one (98.9%) reached the expected maximum dose of 4 mu g Der p 1. Onl y five patients suffered mild adverse reactions (5.7%). All adverse re actions except one appeared to be related to the vial of maximum conce ntration: vial In. (4 mu g Der p 1). Considering the number of patient s who had adverse reactions and the frequency of adverse reactions per dose, we found no significant differences between rhinitis and asthma sufferers. We think that immunotherapy in doses of 4 mu g Der p 1 and 2 jig Der p 2 is well tolerated and should not be avoided in mildly t o moderately asthmatic patients when treating house-dust mite allergy.