Allergology

The Department of Allergy (Allergology) at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University was established in April 2012 and is the institutional home of the chairperson of the Allergy Professional Committee of the Heilongjiang Chronic Disease Management Society. It is primarily engaged in the diagnosis and treatment of allergic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis, allergic asthma, urticaria, eczema, cosmetic allergy, allergic purpura, allergic conjunctivitis, allergic cough, food allergy, drug allergy, angioneurotic edema, anaphylactic shock, and other allergic diseases. It also performs allergen skin-prick tests, allergen testing, and other procedures, and provides allergen-specific desensitization treatment for allergic diseases. It is one of the few departments in the province able to provide standardized desensitization treatment. Since its establishment, it has treated tens of thousands of patients and received widespread acclaim from patients. It currently has 4 healthcare professionals: 1 chief physician, 1 attending physician, 1 nurse-in-charge, and 1 medical laboratory technologist. The department includes 1 committee member of a national-level allergy society and 1 chairperson of a provincial-level allergy society; all physicians currently working in the department hold doctoral degrees. Department physicians have pursued further training for many years at a Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education, the National Human Genome Southern Research Center, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, and the Department of Allergy and Immunology of a Georgia Regents University-affiliated hospital in the United States, among other institutions. The nurse-in-charge received systematic training in the Department of Allergy at Peking Union Medical College Hospital. The department has led 5 national-, provincial-, and ministerial-level research projects, including projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China; published 9 papers indexed in SCI and more than 10 papers in domestic core journals; contributed to several national-level guidelines in both Chinese and English; received a specialty nomination in the 2020 Fudan China Hospital Rankings; and received one each of the Second Prize for Medical New Technology of Heilongjiang Province, the Third Prize for Science and Technology, the President’s Special Award, and the Hospital Advanced Scientific and Technological Worker award.

Allergen testing and desensitization treatment are the department’s specialties, and it specializes in the standardized treatment of skin allergies, allergic asthma, and allergic rhinitis. The department provides regular patient education, disseminates knowledge about allergies, and conducts follow-up visits to track treatment outcomes. It uses internationally advanced allergen preparations for allergen skin diagnostic testing, providing rapid and sensitive testing with a high accuracy rate. It uses the Alutard SQ allergen vaccine, which meets the highest standards in the world today, for standardized desensitization treatment. This method is the “only treatment for allergic diseases that addresses their etiology and changes their natural course” recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). It can effectively relieve allergic symptoms, reduce medication dependence, prevent progression to more severe allergic disease, help reshape the immune system, and prevent the emergence of new allergens.