A Clinical Study on Oral Buckwheat Provocation Test

Park, Kyung Hwa; Park, So Mi; Lee, Hyun Hee; Kim, Hyun Young; Jeoung, Byung Ju; Kim, Kyu Earn; Lee, Ki Young

Abstract

PURPOSE
Buckwheat is one of the most common allergen in food allergy, the pathomechanism is IgE-mediated, type I immune reaction. Antigenicity of Buckwheat is extremely strong, and hypersensitivity symptoms included asthmatic attacks, urticaria eruption, gastrointestinal disorders even anaphylactic shock. The purpose of this study is to evaluate diagnostic significance of allergy skin test and allergy history and analyze clinical features of buckwheat allergy confirmed by oral provocation test.
METHODS
We carried out the retrospective study on 55 patients who had been performed oral buckwheat provocation test at Yonsei university children's allergic clinic.
RESULTS
1) 40 out of 55 cases(72.7%) showed positive buckwheat oral provocation test. 2) The most common clinical finding after oral provocation test was urticaria. 60% showed severe allergic reactions such as asthma attack or anaphylactic shock. 3) The rate which past history and positive skin test corresponded to oral provocation test was very high(86.1%).
CONCLUSIONS
The most valuable diagnosis of food allergy is oral provocation test. However, predictive value of allergy skin test and past history was very high in buckwheat allergy. Our study suggest that the troblesome oral provocation test may be not needed in all cases of suspicious buckwheat allergy patients.