JIN KOOK KIM, YEO-MIN YOON, WON-JONG JANG, YEON-JOO CHOI, SEOK-CHAN HONG, JAE HOON CHO

Department of Otorhinolaryngology ― Head and Neck Surgery, Kankuk University, College of Medicine, 4-12, Hwayang-dong, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, 143-729, Korea

Jin Kook Kim ― M.D., Ph.D.

Yeo-Min Yoon ― M.D., Ph.D

Won-Jong Jang ― Ph.D.

Yeon-Joo Choi – Ph.D.

Seok-Chan Hong ― M.D., Ph.D.

Jae Hoon Cho ― M.D., Ph.D.

MAST-CLA system (Hitachi Chemical Diagnostics, Inc., Mountain View, CA) is a diagnostic test-system for in vitro allergy diagnostics designed for the simultaneous determination of the level of specific IgE antibodies to various allergens. A new generation of MAST has been developed recently ― OPTIGEN test (Hitachi Chemical Diagnostics). This research objective was to compare the diagnostic value of these two tests for diagnosing the allergy rhinitis.

Key words: allergy rhinitis, allergy diagnostics, multiple allergy test, diagnosing the specific immunoglobulin Е, MAST-CLA^®, OPTIGEN^®, CAP, skin prick-test.

Objectives. MAST-CLA system (Hitachi Chemical Diagnostics, Inc., Mountain View, CA) is a diagnostic test-system for in vitro allergy diagnostics designed for the simultaneous determination of the level of specific IgE antibodies to various allergens. A new generation of MAST has been developed recently ― OPTIGEN test (Hitachi Chemical Diagnostics). This research objective was to compare the diagnostic value of these two tests for diagnosing the allergy rhinitis.

Methods. Patients suspected in allergy rhinitis were divided into four groups, the results of their tests were processed: in group 1 the patients were tested with MAST-CLA and skin prick-tests (251 patients), in group 2 the patients were tested with OPTIGEN and skin prick-tests (319 patients), in group 3 the patients were tested with MAST-CLA and CAP test (104 patients), and in group 4 the patients were tested with OPTIGEN and CAP test (270 patients). Correlation was found between the results in groups MAST-CLA and OPTIGEN in relation to the results by skin prick-tests and CAP.

Results. The percentage of positive results in the MAST-CLA group was higher than in the prick-tests and CAP group, while the results in OPTTGEN group appeared to be comparable with skin prick-tests and CAP. Supposedly, MAST-CLA test may give a somewhat larger percentage of false positive results. OPTIGEN test better correlates with skin prick-tests and CAP.

Conclusions. OPTIGEN test showed better diagnostic characteristics than MAST-CLA test for the allergy rhinitis diagnosing.