TY - JOUR
T1 - Prolonged maintenance interval in hymenoptera venom immunotherapy
AU - Golden, David B.K.
AU - Kagey-Sobotka, Anne
AU - Valentine, Martin D.
AU - Lichtenstein, Lawrence M.
N1 - Funding Information:
From the Division of Clinical Immunology, Department of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, The Good Samaritan Hospital. Publication No. 427 from O’Neill Laboratories, The Good Samari-tan Hospital. Supported by Grant AI 08270 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the National Institutes of Health. Received for publication Dec. 15, 1980. Accepted for publication March 16, 1981. Reprint requests to: David B. K. Golden, M.D., The Johns Hop-kins University School of Medicine, The Good Samaritan Hospi-tal, 5601 Loch Raven Blvd., Baltimore, MD 21239. *Supported by a fellowship grant from the Medical Research Council of Canada.
PY - 1981/6
Y1 - 1981/6
N2 - To decrease the cost, inconvenience, and potential side effects of venom immunotherapy we tested whether the interval between the maintenance injections can be increased. In 30 patients who had been given the standard therapy regimen and who had been sting-challenged after 1 and 2 yr of monthly maintenance injections the maintenance interval was increased from 4 to 6 wk. IgG anti-yellow jacket venom antibodies did not change over the next 9 mo. The incidence of local reactions to venom injections did not increase, and there were no systemic reactions during therapy. After 6 to 9 mo 29 of the 30 patients were sting-challenged with one possible reaction. The success rate, 97%, is the same as that observed with monthly maintenance injections. We conclude that the 6-wk maintenance interval is effective in both clinical and immunologic terms after a period of monthly maintenance therapy.
AB - To decrease the cost, inconvenience, and potential side effects of venom immunotherapy we tested whether the interval between the maintenance injections can be increased. In 30 patients who had been given the standard therapy regimen and who had been sting-challenged after 1 and 2 yr of monthly maintenance injections the maintenance interval was increased from 4 to 6 wk. IgG anti-yellow jacket venom antibodies did not change over the next 9 mo. The incidence of local reactions to venom injections did not increase, and there were no systemic reactions during therapy. After 6 to 9 mo 29 of the 30 patients were sting-challenged with one possible reaction. The success rate, 97%, is the same as that observed with monthly maintenance injections. We conclude that the 6-wk maintenance interval is effective in both clinical and immunologic terms after a period of monthly maintenance therapy.
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U2 - 10.1016/0091-6749(81)90102-0
DO - 10.1016/0091-6749(81)90102-0
M3 - Article
C2 - 7346532
AN - SCOPUS:0019435566
SN - 0091-6749
VL - 67
SP - 482
EP - 484
JO - The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology
JF - The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology
IS - 6
ER -