Allergy skin testing: Science or quackery?

[摘要] A commentary in Pediatrics in September 19751 condemned procedure-oriented fee schedules because they encouraged and rewarded the abuse of laboratory and elective surgical procedures. Allergy skin testing was included in this list. Letters to the American Academy of Pediatrics and telephone calls to the Chairman of the Section on Allergy of the Academy took issue with this inclusion. The commentary, however, was directed toward physicians and allergy laboratories who abuse skin testing rather than toward the procedure itself. It was directed to those who perform innumerable and casually selected skin tests as a substitute for an appropriate history, physical examination, and carefully selected tests based on that evaluation.

[学科分类] 儿科学