People with allergies often wish for a quicker way to treat allergy symptoms. Intralymphatic immunotherapy (ILIT) is a new way of administering allergy shots that does exactly that.

An ILIT treatment takes place in an outpatient medical office setting. It consists of three allergen injections, each one spaced about four weeks apart.

Within eight weeks, this rapid treatment is complete.

Within a few months, patients begin to notice reduction in allergy symptoms.In the procedure, a patient’s specific allergens are administered directly into a lymph node by an ultrasound-guided procedure. By targeting a lymph node, the allergens are hand-delivered to the lymphocytes or immune cells that are most important for the body’s immune response to allergens.

The immune cells get the message quicker.

The allergens can be dosed at a much lower dose than other allergy treatments because the allergen proteins are immediately available to lymph cells, rather than relying on second or third hand cell communication from an under the skin injection in the arm or under-the-tongue-drop in the mouth.

There are several advantages of a lower dose, targeted treatment. Lymph node injections have been shown to be safe. Most patients tolerate the injections with little or no discomfort at the injection site. In fact even local injection site reactions are rare.

ILIT is effective for treating allergy symptoms.

Research has shown ILIT injections to provide symptom relief within a few months after starting treatment. A recent publication showed long-lasting benefits of symptom relief maintained at three years after treatment.

When allergy medication or avoidance measures do not relieve allergy symptoms, talk to your Allergist about immunotherapy options. Contact us at Allergy Unlimited if rapid ILIT treatment is a good fit for your active lifestyle.