[Spot test: use of a micromethod with whole blood in allergy diagnosis]

A limiting factor for the use of some in vitro techniques in the allergological diagnostic (RAST, PRIST, Precipitins) in the pediatric field, was the amount of serum needed for their carrying out, very difficult to obtain, especially in neonatology. In the present report the Authors record the results obtained by using a micromethod on the whole blood, called "Spot Test", which consists in the use of a particular base on which the blood drops are directly absorbed. The "Spot Test" showed the same sensitivity and reproducibility of the allergometric tests performed on the serum, therefore the correlation coefficients "r" for the RAST (r = 0.96), PRIST (r = 0.92) Precipitins (r = 0.89) showed to be highly significant for a close correlation between the two tests. Besides the "Spot test" turned out to be endowed, once the bases disc-blood dried with a stability at room temperature for several months (four months) without losing its sensitivity or specificity. This allows the possible sending of these bases to Specialized Centers without any particular problems of storage.