Current research is severely lacking in the area of peripheral blood eosinophil shifts in severe asthma, reports MD Magazine.
Although eosinophil counts from sputum provide the most reliable means of diagnosing eosinophilic asthma, the sampling procedure is unsuitable for routine use in a clinical setting, according to a recent study.Investigators, led by James Kreindler, MD, of the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, explained that peripheral blood eosinophil counts are commonly viable surrogates for sputum counts. As such, they are commonly used as criteria in the analysis of drugs targeting eosinophils in the treatment of patients with severe, uncontrolled, eosinophilic asthma.
