Skin Prick Testing
Precise identification of the allergens affecting a person is a prerequisite for the treatment of an allergy. ALK supplies various methods of determining the exact cause of allergic diseases, e.g. a laboratory analysis of the patient's blood and a skin test performed at the doctor's clinic.
By diagnosing allergic people specifically, it is also possible to advise them on avoidance and elimination of the allergens they react to.
Two testing principles
There are two major principles of diagnosing allergy, the in vivo and the in vitro testing.
The in vivo test includes a skin prick test and a provocation test. It is in principle a physiological test where the reaction towards the allergens is detected in the affected areas (arm, nose, lungs and eyes). Mast cell bound IgE together with specific allergen can elicit a mast cell histamine degranulation and this reaction can be measured within 15 minutes in the skin. In provocation tests the response is also dependent on the target organ reactivity.
The in vitro test is a laboratory test of blood (serum). The principle of this test is to detect free circulating IgE. The measurement of IgE can either be specific (specific IgE) or non-specific IgE (total IgE).