Methods: A total of 59 cases were included in this study. Among those, 44 ( 74,5 %) had suggestive clinical history for latex allergy (SCHLA), and were submitted to latex skin prick test (SPT) and serum latex specific IgE test (sIgE– Immulite/Siemens) ; and 15 ( 25,5%) were healthy subjects, wich were considered negative controls for the diagnostic procedure. All the cases were submitted to LUT according to the service's protocol.
Results: The diagnosis of LA was confirmed in all the cases with SCHLA (44) . 84,1% were female, with a median age of 48 years old, and most of them were healthcare workers (52,3%). SPT, sIgE and LUT were positive in 86,4%, 77,3% and 61,4% of the patients, respectively. Stratification of sIgE was 9,1% in Class I, 29,5% in Class II, 18,2% in Class III and 20,5% in Class IV. Comparing LUT results with the gold standard SPT and/or sIgE positive results, we found 64,4% of accuracy, 57,5% of sensitivity, 78,9% of specificity for LUT. According to that, LUT had 46,9% of negative and 85,2% of positive predictive value.
Conclusions: This study showed low sensitivity and a limited negative predictive value for LUT although it had a good specificity. This allows us to conclude that when the LUT is positive and associated with a compatible clinical history, it can be an useful tool to confirm LA, mainly when the SPT and sIgE are not available.