ABSTRACT
Symptoms of allergic respiratory diseases are caused by exacerbation of an ongoing inflammatory process driven by basic immunological mechanisms related to antigenmediated activation of mast cells, basophils, and eosinophils. Allergic patients can be described in relation to the complex interaction between the allergic condition and the allergic disease. It is important to understand the complexity of the allergic disease in order to offer the patient optimal treatment. The optimal treatment of allergy reduces the primary symptoms and the patient's need for medication, but may also influence the basic allergy syndrome by altering or modifying the immunological mechanism causing the disease. Giving appropriate drugs may decrease symptoms; however, the efficient diagnostic tools available today offer excellent possibilities for treating the patient in a specific way and changing the course of the disease. The optimal treatment of inhalant allergy should
Patient education
Specific immunotherapy Disease
Allergen avoidance
" Medication
Optimal treatment
Figure 1 The concept of optimal treatment of the allergic patient. (From Ref. 25.)
include avoidance of airborne allergens, treatment of symptoms, and immunotherapy as the treatment of the immunological cause of the allergic disease together with education of the patient (Fig. 1).
