title: Therapy with intravenous immunoglobulins: complications and side-effects.
abstract: Therapy with intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG) is thought to be a safe treatment for a number of immune-mediated neurological diseases. Published data about prevalence of adverse effects range from 11 to 81%. The purpose of our study was to present a representative view on adverse effects by analysis of a large cohort of patients treated by IVIG. In a prospective study, we analysed 117 patients (age 17-79 years) who were treated with IVIG for various neurological diseases including chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, diabetic amyotrophy, inclusion body myositis, multiple sclerosis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, Miller-Fisher syndrome, multifocal motor neuropathy, myasthenia gravis and polymyositis. IVIG therapy was applied at a dose of 0.4 g/kg body weight/day in a total of 408 therapy courses. 42.7% showed adverse events. The majority of patients presented with minor adverse effects, mostly asymptomatic laboratory changes. Rash or mild headache occurred in 8 patients, especially when IVIG was given with infusion flow higher than 10 g/h. Two patients showed a severe complication with deep vein thrombosis. In summary, beside its effectiveness in immune mediated neurological diseases, therapy with IVIG seems to be a safe therapy. Most patients show no or minor adverse effects. Patients with pre-existent disorders like heart or renal insufficiency or immobilised patients, however, may be at higher risk for complications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany. matthias.wittstock@med.uni-rostock.de
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wittstock
authors.forename: Reiner
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Benecke
authors.forename: Uwe K
authors.initials: UK
authors.lastname: Zettl
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D020274:Autoimmune Diseases of the Nervous System / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016756:Immunoglobulins, Intravenous / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy; D011446:Prospective Studies
chemical_list: D016756:Immunoglobulins, Intravenous