Pediatric Allergy Unit, Geneva University Hospitals and University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
Clin Transl Allergy. 2011 Nov 28;1(1):14. doi: 10.1186/2045-7022-1-14.
Exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) is a well described marker of airway inflammation in asthma and is also known to increase after chronic exposure to inhaled allergens. It is not known whether monitoring FeNO could be useful during food challenges to detect early or subclinical reactions.
Forty children aged 3 to 16 years undergoing an allergen-food challenge at two centres were prospectively recruited for this study. FeNO was assessed before and repeatedly after the food-challenge.
Data were obtained from a total of 53 challenges (16 positive, 37 negative) and were compared between the two groups. Half of the patients with a positive food challenge exhibited clinical upper respiratory symptoms. The FeNO significantly decreased in 7 of 16 patients with a positive challenge test within 60 to 90 minutes after the first symptoms of an allergic reaction.
Our results show a significant decrease in FeNO after a positive food challenge suggesting involvement of the lower airways despite absence of clinical and functional changes of lower airways. Prospective blinded studies are needed to confirm these results.
呼出气一氧化氮（FeNO）是哮喘气道炎症的一个很好的标志物，也已知在慢性吸入过敏原后会增加。目前尚不清楚在食物挑战期间监测 FeNO 是否有助于检测早期或亚临床反应。
本研究前瞻性招募了来自两个中心的 3 至 16 岁的 40 名接受过敏原-食物挑战的儿童。在食物挑战之前和之后多次评估 FeNO。
共有 53 项挑战（16 项阳性，37 项阴性）的数据，将其与两组进行比较。阳性食物挑战的患者中有一半出现了上呼吸道症状。在阳性挑战试验的 16 名患者中，有 7 名在过敏反应的第一个症状出现后 60 至 90 分钟内，FeNO 明显下降。
我们的结果表明，阳性食物挑战后 FeNO 显著下降，提示尽管下呼吸道没有临床和功能变化，但下呼吸道受累。需要进行前瞻性、盲法研究来证实这些结果。
