Intravenous Immune Globulin Safe and Effective in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Retrospective Study
- By BSTQ Staff
Noting the challenge of managing patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) who are refractory, become intolerant or have contraindications to standard therapies, investigators at Vanderbilt University Medical Center retrospectively extracted data from medical records of IBD patients treated with intravenous immune globulin (IVIG) used to treat these difficult cases.
Twenty-four patients with IBD, 17 of whom had failed standard treatment, received IVIG between February 2011 and June 2013. Six patients received IVIG during active infection. Patients were treated with 0.4 g/kg/day for three consecutive days and then 0.4 g/kg once monthly. The dose was increased to 0.4 g/kg biweekly for loss of response or partial response. Sixteen patients (67 percent) had a response, and three (12.5 percent) obtained remission with IVIG therapy. C-reactive protein decreased significantly after treatment (from 19 mg/dL [0.1-77] to 7.5 [0.2-20], P < 0.05). Harvey-Bradshaw Index scores improved (8 [0-19] to 6 [0-17], P = not significant). Notably, 62.5 percent of patients had endoscopic improvement after treatment.
The investigators concluded that IVIG is safe and effective in the short-term management of patients with IBD when standard therapies are contraindicated.
References
- Merkley SA, Beaulieu DB, Horst S, et al. Use of intravenous immunoglobulin for patients with inflammatory bowel disease with contraindications or who are unresponsive to conventional treatments. Inflamm Bowel Dis 2015 Aug;21(8):1854-9.
