IgE | Immunoglobulin E test

Determination of total IgE concentration is useful as an aid in the diagnosis of allergic diseases. Immunoglobulin E (IgE) plays an important role in immunological defense against parasitic infections and allergies. This is type 1 hypersensitivity, it is characterized as an allergic reaction that occurs immediately after contact with the antigen (allergen) that initiates the allergy.

Since IgE is important during allergies, elevated IgE concentrations can be found in patients with allergic diseases such as hay fever, atopic bronchitis and dermatitis, and atypical asthma.
However, normal IgE values ​​do not mean that an allergic disease can be ruled out. For this reason, the quantitative determination of serum IgE concentration in differentiating non-atopic and atopic diseases is only valuable in combination with other clinical data.
Elevated serum IgE can also occur in non-allergic diseases, such as: bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, hyper IgE syndrome, IgE myeloma and parasitic infections.

The test is superior to other allergy detection methods in that blood is taken from a vein once, avoiding skin prick reactions and the risk of an anaphylaxis reaction, the accuracy of the test does not depend on the drugs used, the condition of the skin and other organs is not affected, and it gives accurate quantitative objective results.

Recommendations:

• It is recommended to be performed prophylactically if there is a suspicion of allergy symptoms or according to the doctor's instructions.
• It is necessary to arrive without food for at least 2 hours to take the test.