Reduction of side effects from rush‐immunotherapy with honey bee venom by pretreatment with terfenadine

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Summary: In a double‐blind placebo‐controlled trial on 52 patients with bee venom allergy we studied the effect of a pretreatment with terfenadine 120 mg twice daily on the occurrence of local and systemic allergic side effects from rush‐immunotherapy. Large local reactions were significantly reduced by terfenadine pretreatment (P < 0.01), while systemic side effects were observed with similar frequencies in both groups. Analysis of individual systemic allergic manifestations showed that cutaneous symptoms like itching (P < 0.025) and urticaria/angioedema (P < 0.05) were significantly reduced, while respiratory or cardiovascular symptoms were not influenced. A lower consumption of additional anti‐allergic medication was found during terfenadine pretreatment (p < 0.05). Pretreatment with antihistamines during immunotherapy may thus be helpful in the management of patients with cutaneous side effects.
Keywords

This publication has 11 references indexed in Scilit: