Advances in the treatment of chronic urticaria.

There have been a number of exciting developments in the treatment of allergic diseases in recent years, but the development of new treatments for urticaria has lagged behind. The standard treatment for chronic urticaria (CU) involves the use of H1 antagonists. A number of small but promising studies have found potential benefit with medications that are used less often. This article reviews the established therapies for CU and the experimental evidence for the use of nonstandard and relatively unknown therapies. The potential usefulness of some of the new allergy medications for the treatment of CU also is discussed.