Abstract
In order to assess the potential usefulness of CPT as a diagnostic tool for ocular allergy, the correlation between skin/RAST tests and CPT was determined in 144 patients affected by allergic ‘hay fever’ type conjunctivitis. The results showed that an agreement between skin/RAST tests and CPT occurred in 71% of the cases (130/ 183). Of the 29% uncorrelated cases, 23% (43/183) were positive for at least one specific antigen by skin/RAST tests but not by CPT, while 6% (10/183) were positive for at least one specific antigen by CPT, but not by skin/RAST tests. CPT dramatically increased the histamine levels in tears (p<0.001). These findings show that (1) systemic tests can be misleading in that they may suggest a specific sensitisation which, in fact, does not involve the conjunctiva (systemic test positive/CPT negative); (2) CPT can identify local conjunctival sensitisation in the absence of a systemic sensitisation (systemic test negative/CPT positive); (3) CPT can demonstrate that allergic ‘hay fever’ type conjunctivitis may be related to allergens different from those responsible for a systemic sensitisation.
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Leonardi, A., Fregona, I., Gismondi, M. et al. Correlation between conjunctival provocation test (CPT) and systemic allergometric tests in allergic conjunctivitis. Eye 4, 760–764 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1038/eye.1990.109
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/eye.1990.109
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