The skin prick test – European standards

Skin prick testing (SPT) is a reliable method to diagnose IgE-mediated allergic disease in patients with rhinoconjunctivitis, asthma, urticaria, anapylaxis, atopic eczema and suspected food and drug allergy. It provides evidence for sensitization and can help to confirm the diagnosis of a suspected type I allergy. It is minimally invasive, inexpensive, results are immediately available and when carried out by trained health professionals, reproducible. Since the first publication about SPT by Helmtraud Ebruster in 1959 [1], who extensively researched this diagnostic test, it has been used as a primary diagnostic tool to detect type I hypersensitivity reactions. Although the principle of SPT still largely resembles the original methods described, a wide array of interpretations and modifications has led to diminished comparability when SPT results are reported. In addition, the different kind of extracts used in various countries makes comparison of data difficult.The Global Allergy and Asthma European Network (GA2LEN) is a network of research investigators formed to augment the cooperation of allergy and asthma research throughout Europe. The purpose of the GA2LEN quality management is to standardize procedures used to diagnose and treat allergic diseases. A survey was conducted to assess SPT practices at the different participating centres at the debut of the program. Although there were similarities in technique for SPT, e.g., the use of positive and negative controls and requesting information from the patient about medications that could interfere with test results, there were also striking differences [2]. These investigators realized that standardization of SPT procedures is desirable so that findings from clinical practice and research become more comparable. Therefore, a GA2LEN protocol was developed using a common panel of inhalant allergens (Table？1) and a standard operating procedure to perform and appropriately interpret SPT results based on published pr