Monosensitized Patients Research Articles

Pollen Aerobiological Monitoring with the personal volumetric air sampler (PVAS). Correlation with a fixed Hirst type sampling station

Monitorings both with a fixed Hirst type volumetric sampler, placed on the balcony of the Medicine Division in Lanciano City Hospital and with a portable volumetric sampler PVAS type by Burkard, placed outside the dwelling-houses of the examined patients have been carried out simulaneously. This has given us further information about the quantity of pollen that single patients affected by pollinosis inhale. Preliminary controls on the capture efficiency of both samplers have been conducted. The results of this survey have shown that the symptom score cards of the eight patients enrolled for the study, have always been well correlated with the average daily pollen concentration of the fixed station (Pearson correlation), and the data obtained by the two samplers have pointed out remarkable differences in the pollen concentration. According to the PVAS, placed near patients, the concentrations were twofold to sixfold as compared to those of the fixed station. This was probably due to the different height of the samplers. However, owing to the short sampling time (30 min.), we aren't able to draw any conclusions. Nevertheless we do hope that more and more patients will undergo this test, so that with several daily surveys over longer periods, we will have more information on the real pollen exposure of single patients. We will verify the threshold of symptoms onset, which is only theoretical nowadays, in the monosensitized patients. Such a program will allow us to carry on useful research both in the respiratory physiopathological and in the allergological fields.