Non-irritant concentrations and amounts of active ingredient in drug patch tests

Drug patch tests (DPTs) with medicaments suspected of causing an allergic reaction represent a method of diagnostic testing that is low risk; DPTs can reproduce delayed hypersensitivity to drugs, and entail only a moderate re-exposure of patients to potential offending drugs. We assessed the non-irritating concentrations of DPTs and determined the amounts of active ingredient (AI) contained in the drugs used in the tests.

The objectives were to assess the non-irritating concentration of DPTs and determine the amounts of active ingredient (AI) contained in the drugs used in the tests.

From a retrospective, single-centre study of all patients investigated during a 6-year period with a drug eruption, each potentially responsible drug was tested with the commercially available preparation diluted to 30% in water, petrolatum, or alcohol. Data collection was performed with a customized computer database. For each type of DPT studied, the numbers of positive and negative test results were recorded. The amount of AI contained in the DPT (as a percentage) was then calculated after weighing of each tablet.

Of the 5558 DPTs studied, all were non-irritant. The average concentration of AI was 9.8%; 25% of DPTs had an AI concentration of < 2%, and 25% had an AI concentration of > 16%. The AI concentration ranged from 0.05% (digoxin) to 30% (paracetamol lyophilisate).

These data provide thresholds for the non-irritating concentration of AI of 68 different drugs, and thresholds for the non-irritating dilution for 82 drugs, and will help to standardize DPT methods.