[Effect of adjuvant immunoglobulin therapy on infections in patients in an surgical intensive care unit. Results of a randomized controlled study]

Abstract

A randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted on the effects of immunoglobulin in therapy for infections in 104 intensive care patients. At the first sign of infection, one group of 50 patients received an i.v. preparation of immunoglobulin (4 X 100 ml) combined with antibiotics. The other 54 control patients received antibiotics alone. The most common infections in these patients were pneumonia, septicemia, peritonitis and wound sepsis. Infections were significantly seldom the cause of death, especially in patients with high-risk surgery who had been treated with immunoglobulin (p less than or equal to 0.05). Likewise ventilation time in the high-risk surgery group averaged only 5.5 days for those receiving immunoglobulin as opposed to 12.7 days in controls (p less than or equal to 0.01). Whereas the control group, in particular patients with pneumonia, remained in intensive care an average of 21.5 days, those receiving immunoglobulin stayed only 14.8 days (p less than or equal to 0.01). In general, patients treated with immunoglobulin recovered more rapidly from infections than did controls (p less than or equal to 0.01).