Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIG)
Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIG) is a blood product, collected and prepared from the serum of human donors. It consists of a mixture of antibodies (primarily IgG) which act as immune modulatory therapy for patients with immune diseases. It binds to various immune cells, autoantibodies and cytokines, blocking their actions.
The use of IVIG in patients with reproductive failure such as recurrent pregnancy loss (repeated miscarriages), multiple implantation failures (IVF failures) and unexplained infertility is studied and still controversial among the physicians; however it was found to improve the pregnancy outcome and live birth rate when given to patients with underlying immune testing abnormalities. Thus, it’s very important to do immune testing for those patients.
IVIG is considered safe in pregnancy. The dose and frequency of IVIG is based on the follow up immune testing results. The infusion usually takes 4-6 hours and the first dose should be attended by a physician.
Some of the studies that showed a significant improvement in the reproductive outcome
:
- Lee SK et al., Intravenous Immunoglobulin G Improves Pregnancy Outcome in Women with Recurrent Pregnancy Losses with Cellular Immune Abnormalities. Am J Reprod Immunol. 2016 Jan;75(1):59-68.
- Jafarzadeh S et al., Intravenous immunoglobulin G treatment increases live birth rate in women with recurrent miscarriage and modulates regulatory and exhausted regulatory T cells frequency and function. J Cell Biochem. 2019 Apr;120(4):5424-5434.
- Ahmadi M et al., Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) treatment modulates peripheral blood Th17 and regulatory T cells in recurrent miscarriage patients: Non randomized, open-label clinical trial. Immunol Lett. 2017 Dec;192:12-19
- Moraru M et al., Intravenous immunoglobulin treatment increased live birth rate in a Spanish cohort of women with recurrent reproductive failure and expanded CD56(+) cells. Am J Reprod Immunol. 2012 Jul;68(1):75-84.