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Use of Intravenous Immunoglobulin in Severe Covid 19 Infection - A Potential Game Changer


Affiliations
1 ICU and Critical Care Services, Sagar Hospital, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
 

The novel Coronavirus has emerged as one of the deadliest pandemics in human history. India is facing challenges of uncontrolled proportions of new cases/death toll, highly virulent variants of Coronavirus and limited therapeutic options. The disease spectrum has mild, moderate and severe stages. Complications like SIRS, cytokine storm, ARDS and MODS are seen at severe stage and hence this stage remains a crucial target to reduce hospital stay and mortality. Immunomodulation is the cornerstone in treating hyperimmune response during severe stage. Though there are various upcoming immunomodulators, there is uncertainty about the efficacy of each. Search for the best innovative therapeutic option continues. In this context, Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIG) is one of the potential interventions with a unique feature of pleiotropic immunomodulating actions. In this case series, we describe two cases who were in severe stage of Covid-19 infection and didn’t respond to any conventional antiviral and immunomodulators. IVIG was administered to both. It was found that there was remarkable improvement in patient’s condition. Both the patients recovered clinically and were discharged from hospital. Hence, IVIG can be considered as a potential therapeutic strategy in severe Covid-19 infection.

Keywords

Immunomodulation, Immunomodulators, Severe Covid 19, IVIG
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  • Use of Intravenous Immunoglobulin in Severe Covid 19 Infection - A Potential Game Changer

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Authors

Ravi Kumar
ICU and Critical Care Services, Sagar Hospital, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
P. Vignesh
ICU and Critical Care Services, Sagar Hospital, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Jagadish Chandra
ICU and Critical Care Services, Sagar Hospital, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Pratyush Miglani
ICU and Critical Care Services, Sagar Hospital, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Abstract


The novel Coronavirus has emerged as one of the deadliest pandemics in human history. India is facing challenges of uncontrolled proportions of new cases/death toll, highly virulent variants of Coronavirus and limited therapeutic options. The disease spectrum has mild, moderate and severe stages. Complications like SIRS, cytokine storm, ARDS and MODS are seen at severe stage and hence this stage remains a crucial target to reduce hospital stay and mortality. Immunomodulation is the cornerstone in treating hyperimmune response during severe stage. Though there are various upcoming immunomodulators, there is uncertainty about the efficacy of each. Search for the best innovative therapeutic option continues. In this context, Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIG) is one of the potential interventions with a unique feature of pleiotropic immunomodulating actions. In this case series, we describe two cases who were in severe stage of Covid-19 infection and didn’t respond to any conventional antiviral and immunomodulators. IVIG was administered to both. It was found that there was remarkable improvement in patient’s condition. Both the patients recovered clinically and were discharged from hospital. Hence, IVIG can be considered as a potential therapeutic strategy in severe Covid-19 infection.

Keywords


Immunomodulation, Immunomodulators, Severe Covid 19, IVIG

References