Intravenous Immunoglobulins (IvIg) are often administered to critically ill patients more as an act of faith than on the basis of relevant clinical studies. This particularly applies to the treatment of sepsis in adult patients, in whom the current guidelines even recommend against their use, despite that many studies demonstrated either their beneficial effects in different subsets of patients and that some preparations of IvIg are more effective than other. The biology of Ig are reviewed, aiming to a more in-depth understanding of their properties in order to clarify their possible indications in different clinical settings.
Keywords: immunoglobulins; infections; sepsis; septic shock.