Allergy injections and cancer
Question:
10/9/2018
I have a patient who has a pituitary adenoma. She is reactive on skin testing, and she is a good candidate for allergy injections. I have seen questions addressing allergy injections and malignancy previously, and I found a 2011 case series addressing this question, and these sources seem to indicate that allergy injections are not contraindicated with malignancy, thus it seems like it would be OK for this patient to receive immunotherapy. Is this your opinion?
Answer:
The decision to start or continue AIT in a patient with a malignancy and undergoing treatment for cancer would need to be made on a case by case basis. In general, I do not believe AIT and malignancy are absolutely contraindicated but I think one needs to consider the individual patient, their chemotherapeutic regimen and their allergic symptoms.
Andrew Murphy, MD, FAAAAI