• Payam Tabarsi, Saghar Barati, Hamidreza Jamaati, Sara Haseli, Majid Marjani, Afshin Moniri, Zahra Abtahian, Alireza Dastan, Sahar Yousefian, Raha Eskandari, Ali Saffaei, Fatemeh Monjazebi, Abdolbaset Vahedi, and Farzaneh Dastan.
• Clinical Tuberculosis and Epidemiology Research Centre, National Research Institute for Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (NRITLD), Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
• Int. Immunopharmacol. 2021 Jan 1; 90: 107205.

BackgroundThe newly discovered coronavirus has turned into coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and it rages at an unprecedented rate. Considering the findings of previous studies on the use of Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIg) for treating severe H1N1 infection and the satisfying results for reducing viral load and mortality, this study aimed to investigate the potential usefulness of IVIg for the management of severe cases.MethodsIn this randomized controlled trial, 84 patients were included: 52 in the IVIg group and 32 in the control group. The intervention group received IVIg at a dose of 400 mg/kg, IV, daily for three days. Both groups received hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir and supportive care. The demographic data, mortality rate, the need for mechanical ventilation, length of stay in hospital and in Intensive Care Unit (ICU), and imaging findings were recorded and compared in terms of the mentioned factors.ResultsThe mean time from admission to IVIg initiation was 3.84 ± 3.35 days. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of mortality rate (P-value = 0.8) and the need for mechanical ventilation (P-value = 0.39). The length of hospital stay was significantly lower for the control group than that of the intervention group (P-value = 0.003). There was a significant positive relationship between the time from hospital admission to IVIg initiation and the length of stay in the hospital and ICU among the survivors (P-value < 0.001 and =0.01, respectively).ConclusionsOur findings did not support the use of IVIg in combination with hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir in treatment of severe COVID-19 cases.Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier B.V.

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