Complement Fixation Test: An Update of an Old Method for Diagnosis of Bullous Pemphigoid
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.2340/00015555-2223Abstract
The complement fixation test (CFT) is a method traditionally used for diagnosis of gestational pemphigoid. Its performance in diagnosis of bullous pemphigoid (BP) has not been investigated in a large patient cohort. The aim of this single-centre, retrospective, serological case-control study of 300 patients with BP and 136 control patients was to analyse its operating characteristics. CFT was found to have a sensitivity of 71.7% and a specificity of 100%. Furthermore, CFT diagnosed 20 of 46 patients with BP (43.5%) who were negative for both BP180 and BP230 enzyme-linked immunoassays (ELISAs), 31 of 66 patients (47.0%) who were negative for indirect immunofluorescence of the oesophagus, 5 of 14 patients (35.7%) who were serologically negative for all investigated serological assays, and 7 of 18 patients (38.9%) in whom direct immunofluorescence was negative. Combination of CFT with all other serological assays resulted in a sensitivity of 95.3%. In conclusion, CFT is suitable for the diagnosis of BP, and can help to diagnose serologically challenging cases.Downloads
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2015 Jana Jankásková, Orsolya N. Horváth, Rita Varga, Thomas Ruzicka, Miklós Sárdy
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
All digitalized ActaDV contents is available freely online. The Society for Publication of Acta Dermato-Venereologica owns the copyright for all material published until volume 88 (2008) and as from volume 89 (2009) the journal has been published fully Open Access, meaning the authors retain copyright to their work.
Unless otherwise specified, all Open Access articles are published under CC-BY-NC licences, allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and to remix, transform, and build upon the material for non-commercial purposes, provided proper attribution to the original work.