INTRAVENOUS IMMUNOGLOBULIN (IVIG) IN THE TREATMENT OF ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANT-FEVER OF CANCER PATIENTS.

Septic and immunocompromised patients usually appear with impaired phagocytic function of neutrophils and monocytes. Recent clinical studies suggest that IVIG, among its immunomodulatory effects, exerts an antimicrobial activity, improving the outcome of severely septic patients. On the other hand, prophylactic administration of IVIG reduces the number of infectious episodes in patients submitted to bone marrow transplantation. In addition, IVIG administration has shown antipyretic activity in an experimental model of fever in rabbits. This report refers to two cases of cancer patients, who experienced a dramatic decline of fever and a clinical improvement, after IVIG administration. The first of them was a 62-year-old male suffering non small cell lung cancer and the other was a 54 year old male with carcinoma of the colon. Both of the patients entered our department because of along history of fever refractory to antibiotics.

Abstract published in Cancer Detect Prevent 1996;20(5)

paper presented at the International Symposium on the Impact of cancer Biotechnology on Diagnostic and Prognostic Indicators in Predictive Oncology and Therapy, Nice, France, October 26-28,1996.