[Diagnosis of drug allergy. Role of specific IgE and IgG determination].

In the diagnosis of drug allergies, the anamnesis and, in some cases, prick tests are without doubt indispensable approaches but they are not always able to provide optimal prognostic levels. Moreover, prick tests are sometimes contraindicated owing to their potential danger. This study evaluated the diagnostic efficacy of a test in vitro--the assay of IgE- and IgG-specific (RAST)--for a group of 16 drugs in 88 patients referred for allergological consultancy after clinical manifestations attributable to the administration of a drug (30/88 cases) or more than one drug (58/88).

Extrathoracic and intrathoracic airway responsiveness in sinusitis.

Background: Asthma associated with sinusitis is supposed to be sustained by bronchoconstrictive reflexes originating in extrathoracic airway (EA) receptors.

Objective: The study was designed to evaluate the relationship between EA responsiveness and bronchial responsiveness in sinusitis.

Methods: We performed histamine inhalation challenge in 106 patients with chronic sinusitis, during disease exacerbation and after treatment with antimicrobials and nasal flunisolide (100 micrograms daily) for 2 weeks.

Serum thyroid hormone changes in head and neck cancer patients treated with microwave hyperthermia on lymph node metastasis.

Eleven patients with head and neck cancer (ten men, one woman; mean age, 65 years) (larynx, six; oropharynx, two; tongue, one; skin, one; thyroid, one) with regional lymph node enlargements either in contiguity or firmly adherent to the vascular structures of the neck have been treated by means of external microwaves (915, 434 MHz) applicators. All patients were treated by hyperthermia (42-45 degrees C) alone (ten sessions, twice a week, each lasting 30 minutes). Thyroid hormones (T4, T3, FT4, FT3, rT3, thyroid stimulating hormone less than obTSH]) were evaluated during sessions 1, 2, 3, and 8, just before the session (time [t] = 0) and at 10-minute intervals during the heating (t = 10, t = 20, t = 30).

Lack of correlation between plasma cell thymidine labelling index and serum beta-2-microglobulin in monoclonal gammopathies.

Simultaneous evaluation of bone marrow plasma cell thymidine labelling index (LI) and serum beta-2-microglobulin (SB2M) was performed in 146 patients with multiple myeloma (MM) or monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS). Eighty patients had MM on diagnosis, 11 were in relapse and 12 were in remission phase; 43 patients had MGUS. All the evaluated patients had normal renal function with a creatinine level less than 1.