[Pollen allergy and immunotherapy].

Pollinosis affects up to 25 % of the Swiss-population and increased substantially during the last century. Main causative pollens are birch and related pollens, ash pollen and grass pollen and to a lesser extent also mugwort. Diagnosis of Pollinosis is based on anamnesis, skin tests and determination of specific IgE in the serum. Treatment includes allergen avoidance, pharmacotherapy and allergen-specific immunotherapy (SIT). A proper patient and allergen extract selection, an ideally adapted application regimen and good patient-guidance as well as good compliance and treatment adherence are decisive for the success of the SIT. SCIT is the regimen of choice with well demonstrated efficacy, safety and long term effect. Nowadays SLIT is an additional complementary approach that mainly for grass pollen also offers good efficacy with good safety. Under such conditions immunotherapy leads to a benefit in more than 80 % of pollinosis-patients. Component-resolved diagnosis is a very useful and important step in more specific diagnosis. Several approaches studying changed application regimens and using molecular technologies to improve the efficacy of SIT are undergoing and will possibly substantially improve the efficacy, safety and acceptance of SIT.