Biomedical subjects

Kalliopi Kontou-Fili

Publications and source records attributed to Kalliopi Kontou-Fili.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Efficacy and safety of mometasone furoate vs nedocromil sodium as prophylactic treatment for moderate/severe seasonal allergic rhinitis.

BACKGROUND: The preventive use of medications has been proposed to be effective in the treatment of seasonal rhinitis. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of mometasone furoate and nedocromil sodium nasal sprays as prophylactic treatment for moderate to severe seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR). PATIENTS: Sixty-one patients were recruited from 3 referral allergy centers. Inclusion criteria were history of SAR for 2 years or longer, sensitization to relevant local pollen (grasses, Parietaria, and olive), and age older than 12 years. METHODS: An open-label, randomized, parallel-group, "real-life" study design was used. Patients received mometasone furoate nasal spray once daily or nedocromil sodium nasal spray 3 times daily starting 2 to 4 weeks before the pollen season and continuing for up to 4 months. Instructions regarding the use of additional medications were given. Diary cards recording symptoms, use of medication, and adverse events were kept by the patients. RESULTS: All 61 patients completed the study. The prophylactic use of mometasone furoate vs nedocromil sodium led to significantly more days without symptoms (75.1% vs 54.5%; P < .001). The mometasone furoate group also had lower nasal symptom scores (mean, 1.4 vs 2.9; median, 0 vs 2; P < .001) and was more satisfied (93.1% vs 43.5%; P < .001). No serious adverse event was recorded, and there was no difference between the treatments in any adverse event. CONCLUSIONS: Prophylactic administration of mometasone furoate before the pollen season is safe and may lead to improved control of SAR compared with the use of nedocromil sodium.

Administration, Intranasal↗

PubMed2006

Bee pollen sensitivity in airborne pollen allergic individuals.

BACKGROUND: Physicians who practice alternative medicine often prescribe bee pollen as a food supplement and a treatment for various ailments. OBJECTIVES: To determine the qualitative and quantitative composition of bee pollen and to investigate the cutaneous reactivity of atopic patients to bee pollen extracts. METHODS: The absolute number of pollen grains per gram of bee pollen was calculated, and morphologic identification of the botanical family was performed. Five extracts of bee pollen were prepared for skin prick testing, according to standard methods. Two hundred two volunteers participated in the study; 145 were atopic patients with respiratory allergy. The remaining 57 were healthy volunteers or nonatopic patients and served as a control group. All participants underwent skin prick testing with a standard battery of 6 aeroallergens (olive, grasses mix, Parietaria, mugwort, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, and Dermatophagoides farinae) and with all homemade bee pollen extracts. RESULTS: All samples of bee pollen contained Oleaceae pollen in high concentrations. Small amounts of anemophilous pollen (Compositeae, Chenopodiaceae) were detected in various samples. A strong positive correlation was observed between cutaneous reactivity to bee pollen extracts and olive, grasses, and mugwort. CONCLUSIONS: Bee pollen contains a large amount of pollen, which belongs to various allergenic families of plants. Bee pollen retains its allergenic potential as demonstrated by strong cutaneous responses to bee pollen extracts observed in atopic patients in contrast to nonatopic subjects. Regarding pollen allergic individuals, further studies are needed to evaluate the safety of ingesting large amounts of bee pollen.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction after amoxycillin-induced anaphylactic shock in a young adult with normal coronary arteries: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Acute myocardial infarction (MI) following anaphylaxis is rare, especially in subjects with normal coronary arteries. The exact pathogenetic mechanism of MI in anaphylaxis remains unclear. CASE PRESENTATION: The case of a 32-year-old asthmatic male with systemic anaphylaxis, due to oral intake of 500 mg amoxycillin, complicated by acute ST-elevation MI is the subject of this report. Following admission to the local Health Center and almost simultaneously with the second dose of subcutaneous epinephrine (0.2 mg), the patient developed acute myocardial injury. Coronary arteriography, performed before discharge, showed no evidence of obstructive coronary artery disease. In vivo allergological evaluation disclosed strong sensitivity to amoxycillin and the minor (allergenic) determinants of penicillin. CONCLUSION: Acute ST-elevation MI is a rare but potential complication of anaphylactic reactions, even in young adults with normal coronary arteries. Coronary artery spasm appears to be the main causative mechanism of MI in the setting of "cardiac anaphylaxis". However, on top of the vasoactive reaction, a thrombotic occlusion, induced by mast cell-derived mediators and facilitated by prolonged hypotension, cannot be excluded as a possible contributory factor.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Patients with negative skin tests.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The aim of this article is to present and discuss the clinical problem of systemic anaphylaxis to Hymenoptera venoms in patients without detectable immunoglobulin E, as it appears in recent literature. Reported at variable frequency in large series of patients undergoing evaluation, systemic anaphylaxis was previously considered to reflect lost sensitization or to involve non-immunoglobulin E mediated mechanisms. Sporadic case-reports drew attention to the fact that severe or even fatal reactions may occur in patients with negative skin tests. RECENT FINDINGS: A breakthrough article by Golden et al., who performed deliberate stings on skin test negative venom anaphylaxis patients, demonstrated that clinical sensitivity was still present in a subset of these subjects and pointed out to the limitations of present diagnostic methods or reagents. New immunobiochemical methods and highly specific recombinant allergens--when all clinically relevant Hymenoptera venom allergens have been identified, cloned, sequenced and expressed in the proper system--are anticipated to increase the diagnostic yield. Non-specific mechanisms causing anaphylactoid reactions will probably explain some enigmatic, skin test negative radioallergosorbent test negative cases in the future. Occult mastocytosis, predisposing patients to anaphylactoid reactions, has been reported with increasing frequency among skin test negative patients. Lastly, other causes mimicking venom anaphylaxis may on rare occasions contribute to the problem. SUMMARY: With the present understanding of venom allergy, the practising clinician is not infrequently faced with the dilemma of the skin test negative patient. Once other identifiable causes have been carefully ruled out, referral to a specialized center for deliberate sting-challenges appears in selected cases to be a medically appropriate and ethically justified management approach.

Allergens↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A 10-year aerobiological study (1994-2003) in the Mediterranean island of Crete, Greece: grasses and other weeds, aerobiological data, and botanical and clinical correlations.

Grasses and weeds contain species that produce abundant pollen grains and have been implicated as causative agents in both asthma and allergic rhinitis. In this study, we present the pollen counts of allergenic grasses and weeds on the island of Crete and show their impact on allergic individuals. Heraklion is located at the center of the north shore of Crete and has been monitored with a Burkard 7-day volumetric spore trap since 1994, to determine the identity, concentration, and seasonal variation of airborne pollen grains. Data from 10 consecutive years were recorded, analyzed, and correlated to the growth of respective plants on this island. The island's vegetation and blossoming periods have been investigated by conducting field trips. In parallel, an atopic population of 576 individuals with a convincing history of allergic respiratory disease-rhinitis and/or asthma-was subjected to skin-prick tests with 50 common allergens. Quantitatively, there was a fair agreement between total pollen counts and positive skin-prick test frequencies for Parietaria (Urticaceae family). For the majority of the grass and weed genera, strongly positive skin test responses were observed frequently, despite rather low pollen counts.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Multiple physical urticarias: report of three cases and review of the literature.

The appearance of more than one physical urticaria (PU) in the same patient has been documented; cold urticaria or dermatographism in association with some other type of PU are encountered more frequently. Three female patients exhibiting multiple PUs simultaneously are presented. In one female patient four different forms of PU could be shown with the appropriate challenge tests; the other two female patients exhibited five different types. The longest postdiagnosis follow-up, with objective evaluation and persistence of all PUs, was 6 years in one subject. The co-occurrence of two, three, or four PU types has been published in the relative literature; no cases of five PUs have been reported previously.

Adult↗