Linee guida per la diagnosi di allergia alimentare IgE mediata

These guidelines for IgE-mediated food allergy diagnosis, prepared by a group of experts, were approved by the Steering Committee of the Allergy Department of Milan and put into operation in the allergological centres of the Milan District. These guidelines are based on the Position Paper published by the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. This procedure involves consideration of case history, skin tests (with commercial extracts and fresh foods), but is only fully validated by the double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenge, which is the gold standard for correct diagnosis. Some standards have been drawn up especially for paediatrics. These advise considering nutritional diet factors and point out that the single-blind challenge can be used for this age-group. Reference is made to methods for IgE-mediated food allergy diagnosis which have not been validated.