caa a22 4500 378926217 CHVBK 20180305123618.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161128e20040617xx s 000 0 mul 10.1515/LabMed.2004.041 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)gruyter-10.1515/LabMed.2004.041 Menheere P. P. C. A. The laboratory responsibility in stopping the allergic march [Elektronische Daten] Die Rolle des Labors beim Unterbrechen des allergischen Marsches / [P. P. C. A. Menheere] Nowadays, it is generally accepted that allergic disease of childhood develops into serious health problems in adults. Allergy starts with mild forms of atopic dermatitis, poorly differentiated gastrointestinal disease or recurrent wheezing, mostly caused by food allergens. Later in childhood the importance of food allergens diminishes, but the inhalant allergens become more important and are responsible for bronchial asthma, allergic rhinitis or conjunctivitis. Finally, in adulthood, allergic asthma is the cause of irreversible changes of pulmonary tissue, reducing lung capacity and function. This progressive development of allergic disease in children causing minor (or sometimes even major) discomfort into irreversible changes of lung or skin tissue with consequently compromised functionality, is called the allergic march. Early recognition and correct intervention can modify this process. All allergic patients may benefit from different kinds of therapy that are available nowadays. It is important, that the consulted physician is aware of the relation between possible future healthcare problems and actual allergic disease. Since allergy is of increasing complexity, the physician is not able anymore to survey the complete discipline. During the diagnostic phase, the physician asks without exception for laboratory confirmation of the allergy and for determination of the involved allergens. Clinical chemists trained in allergy are seeing much more demands for diagnosis of allergy. Furthermore, they are aware of cross reactions and seasonal changes of exposure. The clinical chemist should interpret the results and he should advise the physician by proposing therapies that might stop or even avoid progressive development. The use of expert systems is beneficial in providing a tool to combine the patient's information and history and the results of allergy testing into a report of results containing an interpretation and advice about possible therapies. Close cooperation between the physician and the clinical chemist is necessary to stop the allergic march. Copyright © 2004 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG Medical equipment & techniques nationallicence Medical diagnosis nationallicence Diseases & disorders nationallicence LaboratoriumsMedizin Walter de Gruyter 28/3(2004-06-17), 279-283 0342-3026 28:3<279 2004 28 labm https://doi.org/10.1515/LabMed.2004.041 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1515/LabMed.2004.041 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Menheere P. P. C. A. NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- LaboratoriumsMedizin Walter de Gruyter 28/3(2004-06-17), 279-283 0342-3026 28:3<279 2004 28 labm CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-gruyter