The ACTT Allergy Management Program from Bio-Medical Services offers an In vitro Serum IgE Test. Serum IgE testing directly measures allergen-specific IgE circulating in the serum of an allergic animal.
After a diagnosis of atopic dermatitis has been made, the next step in allergy management is to identify the specific allergens that are causing the pet to suffer. Identification of allergic triggers helps veterinarians and owners to devise avoidance strategies where possible, and more often, to select appropriate allergens for immunotherapy treatment.
Advantages of serum IgE testing include:
• No steroid or antihistamine interference.
• A single blood draw is all that is required.
• Food allergy testing is available.
• Less stressful for the patient; no clipping or sedation is necessary.
• Co-existing skin pathologies do not affect test results.
• Testing has a lower cost and widespread availability.
• Test results are reproducible, and not subjective.
For a complete list of the ACTT Allergy testing services available, click here.
A valid metric by which to judge the accuracies of skin and serum IgE testing is to evaluate the effectiveness of immunotherapy treatment.
Several studies have documented that there is no significant difference in response rates to immunotherapy, regardless of whether intradermal skin testing or an IgE serum test was used to select allergens for immunotherapy treatment.
Serum IgE and skin testing perform equally well to identifyallergens for immunotherapy treatment.
