Specific immunotherapy now recommended as asthma therapy!

New treatment recommendations now available for asthma patients! For the treatment of asthma, specific immunotherapy (SIT) is now explicitly included in the newly issued National Health Care Guideline (NVL) Asthma https://www.guidelines.de/nvl/asthma recommended.

“For asthma patients, this is almost like a revolution” assesses Prof. Dr. med. Eckard Hamelmann, vice president of the German Society for Allergology and Clinical Immunology (DGAKI) http://www.dgaki.de/ and coauthor of the guideline this innovation.

In asthma patients, the attending physician should now also carry out an allergological clarification as part of the asthma diagnosis if an allergy is suspected or if another allergic disease is present.

For the therapy, the new NVL Asthma specifies that specific immunotherapy is now explicitly part of the stepwise therapy. It is considered an additional therapy option for all levels, regardless of severity. Patients thus have a right to be informed about the possibility of specific immunotherapy for the treatment of their asthma.

The specific immunotherapy can fight the causes of asthma at its root

Important to know: Specific immunotherapy is the only causal form of treatment for allergy-related diseases. This means this therapy can address the root causes of asthma, not just treat the symptoms. New studies have shown that specific immunotherapy for allergic asthma can reduce outbreaks (exacerbations) and improve symptom control.

“It has been shown in children’s studies that the use of corticosteroids can be reduced by specific immunotherapy” emphasizes Prof. Hamelmann, “especially with children and adolescents this is an important aspect!”