Abstract:

Objective: Sometimes pharmacotherapy may be insufficient to control the symptoms of allergic rhinitis. Immunotherapy may be a treatment option at this point, however, its long course is one of the reasons for refraining for both physicians and the patients. Owing to its seven-week course, pre-seasonal immunotherapy may be the reason of choice. Material and Methods: In this study, the clinical efficacy of pre-seasonal immunotherapy is investigated on patients who had seasonal allergic rhinitis due to grass pollen hypereactivity. Twenty two adults were included in the study. The patients pointed their symptom severity for sneezing, nasal obstruction, nasal discharge, itching of the throat and mouth, eye-itching and redness of the eyes on a 10-point scale before and after immunotherapy. Results: The scores for sneezing, nasal obstruction, nasal discharge, itching of the throat and mouth and eye-itching were reduced significantly following immunotherapy (p=0.008, p=0.019, p=0.001, p=0.005, p=027). No systemic reactions were observed following the injections, however, local indurations between 2-4 cm were observed after six injections. Conclusion: In conclusion, pre-seasonal immunotherapy is an effective treatment modality that reduces the symptoms in the following pollen season and does not cause serious side-effects in seasonal allergic rhinitis due to grass pollen hypersensitivity.

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