[Is hyposensitization still an adequate procedure in treatment of bronchial asthma?]

Hyposensitization of asthmatic patients is still an open and controversially discussed question. An own randomized, single-blind study including 39 patients who were controlled twice at one year intervals by bronchial allergen challenges is demonstrated. Hyposensitization resulted in a decrease of the number of late asthmatic reactions whereas placebo was associated with an increase of this type of reaction. On the other hand only placebo induced an elevation of the specific bronchial threshold dosage for allergens, e.g. the asthma-inducing or tolerated allergen load increased by 13 to 36% (p greater than 0.005). These results which are in agreement with experiences especially of anglo-saxon authors, severe side effects in some cases as well as the improvement obtained by topic corticosteroids and mast cell stabilizers reveal hyposensitization not to be the treatment of choice for asthmatic patients.