Lanka Hospitals Diagnostics fully equipped to detect up to 51 allergies

Monday, 22 September 2014 00:03 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Lanka Hospitals Diagnostics (LHD) today announced that it has recently purchased the Phadia 100 allergy testing machine, leading to a safer, faster and more convenient testing procedure to patients. The Phadia machine is designed for allergy and autoimmunology testing and to deliver clinically relevant test results supporting doctors in patient management. The new machine features an allergen panel that can detect sensitisations to 650 allergens and 90 allergen components and a broad autoimmune menu for the evaluation of the most common autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, coeliac disease and connective tissue disease among others.

“We are fully equipped with up to 51 different allergens encompassing common environmental allergens, food panels, animal antigen and drugs that can be tested specifically to identify the cause of an allergy,” said Lanka Hospital Diagnostics CEO Dr. Wimal Karandagoda. “The specialty of this state-of-the-art machine is that multiple tests could be measured with just one sample of blood. The results are fast, reliable, can be tested on any one in any age group and patients can still keep taking their medication while being tested for an allergy. These tests are also priced very reasonably in order to be affordable to as wide a segment of the country as possible.” Prior to the introduction of technology such as this, allergies were detected though allergy skin tests which are cosmetically unappealing. Therefore the introduction of the ImmunoCAP test method is a positive stride towards the development of the country’s healthcare system. Furthermore, blood samples can be handed over to Lanka Hospitals or any of its 250 collection centres islandwide, offering greater convenience to the public. “This method quantifies the specific IgE antibody level and the early stages of the allergy can be detected before the clinical symptoms develop. It also detects the allergen which contributes to the allergic symptoms. As a hospital geared to offering patients the best possible clinical outcome, we are proud to offer the ImmunoCAP test method which is considered the worldwide gold standard for allergy testing,” Dr. Karandagoda added. LHD is Sri Lanka’s first Reference Medical Laboratory and offers more than 1,000 laboratory tests, using the most advanced state-of-the-art technology supported by its highly skilled personnel, and with the technical collaboration with SRL Diagnostics (India). LHD is capable of conducting a range of routine to high-end tests, some of which have been introduced for the first time in Sri Lanka. Through its Reference Laboratory, LHD offers an all-inclusive collection of diagnostic facilities including an extensive range of lab tests in Haematology, Histopathology, Chemical Pathology, Microbiology, Flow cytometry, Clinical pathology, Molecular Diagnostics and Cytogenetics.