Ask your allergy cells!

Your basophils, inflammatory cells in the blood, are not recorded in other allergy tests. However, they are particularly important because they are the ones that secrete mediators and trigger an acute allergic reaction. The basophil activation test, or BAT, is used to detect and assess the risk of IgE-mediated allergy, as well as psdeudoallergy, e.g. to drugs and food additives. Your risk of an allergic reaction can then be better narrowed down.

After a blood draw, we stimulate your basophil blood cells in a test tube with allergens. If the basophils react to the stimulus, we can measure this in flow cytometry using laser technology. In this process, the blood cells are passed individually in tiny capillaries in front of a laser beam. Our flow cytometer DxFLEX System B5-R0-V0; Beckman Coulter, as well as Flow CAST® Assay and CAST® Allergene, from Bühlmann are certified according to the "in vitro diagnostic medical devices regulation (iVDR)" and therefore meet the current criteria for standardized laboratory testing.

What can the BAT test do?

  • The BAT mimics an allergic reaction in a test tube.
  • In BAT, 85% of the patients tested respond.
  • The test is more sensitive than the serum test for IgE and also tells us how strongly your blood cells react. The BAT can complementarily confirm a suspected allergy.
  • There is no risk of allergic reaction or anaphylaxis with test tube testing as with other provocation tests with allergens.
  • The BAT can diagnose local allergic rhinitis (LAR) in 50% of cases despite a negative IgE test. The positive predictive power is 95%.
  • BAT can measure possible tolerance development in food allergies or therapeutic success in allergen immunotherapy *).
  • The test is suitable in pregnancy, for infants and young children.
  • The test is suitable for patients with e.g. cardiovascular diseases and cancer.
  • The optimal time for BAT is between 6 weeks to six months after an allergic reaction.
  • Since there are also unknown cofactors in real life allergies, the BAT test does not completely replace allergen provocations.
  • However, the BAT result is helpful in finding triggers and assessing your risk for further reactions.
  • The BAT result must be discussed with your attending physician.
BAT Application