Local allergic rhinitis: the issue and its significance

Abstract

The article presents the pathogenetic mechanisms of allergic rhinitis and approaches to the allergic diagnosis of this pathology. The clinician has an opportunity to verify the presence of this particular form of rhinitis when using the following laboratory diagnostic methods: determining the level of IgE in the nasal secretion, using the basophil activation test, rhinocytogram, and other nasal cytology tests. The basophil activation test is a functional study in which flow cytometry is used to determine the expression of activation markers on basophils following the exposure to the relevant al lergen. The use of this test in diagnostics showed that it had 50% sensitivity and 93% specificity in the examination of patients with suspected sensitization to house dust allergens. Even higher sensitivity rates (66%) with equal specificity (91.7%) were found in patients with sensitization to pollen allergens.