Pol Merkuriusz Lek. 2003 Jun; 14(84): 541-4.

[In Process Citation]

Kruszewski J.

Wojskowy Instytut Medyczny, Klinika ChorÃ³b Infekcyjnych i Alergologii CSK MON w Warszawie.

This study presents the general rules of diagnosing allergic diseases, which can be reduced to answers for the following three questions: is the patient allergic? (does he/she belong to the group of people at risk for allergy?). If so, then; what is he/she allergic to? And again, if the answer is positive, then: does the substance he/she is allergic to, gives the reasons for the symptoms? As it follows from the above-mentioned questions, besides determining the disease, the main goal of allergy diagnostics is to recognize the allergen responsible for the symptoms. In order to attain this, several widely recognized tests are performed (skin prick tests, allergen specific IgE, skin patch tests, allergen challenge tests, etc.). Some doctors use the testing methods which have not been scientifically proven to be effective and accurate. As a matter of fact, many patients in Poland are tested with unverified (ALCAT) or negatively verified methods (allergen specific IgG4) as well as by means of alternative medicine (acupuncture, BICOM).