• Aparna U Hoskote, Raghu N Ramaiah, Catherine M Cale, John C Hartley, and Katherine L Brown.
• Cardiac Critical Care Unit, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust, London, UK. hoskoa@gosh.nhs.uk
• Pediatr Crit Care Me. 2012 Sep 1; 13 (5): 535-41.

ObjectiveTo evaluate whether intravenous immunoglobulin was linked to a reduction in sepsis in patients with prolonged chylothoraces postpediatric cardiothoracic surgery.DesignRetrospective observational cohort study.SettingTertiary pediatric cardiac surgical center.PatientsChildren with chylothoraces postcardiothoracic surgery from 1998 to 2006 divided into two groups: with and without intravenous immunoglobulin supplementation.InterventionIntravenous immunoglobulin supplementation.Measurements And Main ResultsThirty-seven with chylothoraces (median duration 14 days; interquartile range, 10-32 and median maximum chyle drainage 1.9 mL/kg/hr; interquartile range, 1-3) were included, and 16 (43%) received intravenous immunoglobulin. The degree of lymphopenia was worse with longer duration of chylothorax (p = .005). There was a trend toward immunoglobulin depletion-IgG (p = .07) and IgM (p = .07) with higher volume chyle loss. Twenty-two of 37 (59%) developed bloodstream infection and 24 of 37 (65%) developed sepsis related to other organ systems. The rate of bloodstream infection and of sepsis in other organ systems was high at 25 (95% confidence interval 17-39) and 23 (95% confidence interval 15-34) episodes per 1,000 intensive care unit days, respectively. Intravenous immunoglobulin was not related to the bloodstream infection rate: adjusted hazard ratio 0.88 (95% confidence interval 0.20-3.94; p = .87) or rate of sepsis in other organ systems: hazard ratio 2.31 (95% confidence interval 0.21-24.29; p = .49) or the proportion surviving to hospital discharge (p = .37).ConclusionPatients with prolonged, large-volume chyle loss had greater secondary immunodeficiency. Although the sample size was small and therefore able to detect only a large treatment effect from intravenous immunoglobulin, infectious outcomes were equal between the two groups.

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