IVIG Treatment for Crohn’s Disease: Effectiveness, Precautions – Healthline
Crohns disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that affects an estimated half a million people in the United States.
The autoimmune disorder causes inflammation and often painful irritation that can occur anywhere in your digestive tract, from your mouth to your rectum. But Crohns disease usually affects your small or large intestines.
Treating Crohns disease usually involves medications to tamp down inflammation and your bodys immune system response, as well as ease to specific symptoms. Dietary changes may also help manage your symptoms and lower the number and severity of flare-ups you have.
One other treatment, called intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), has been getting more attention in recent years as an encouraging option for physicians and people with the disease who have relatively few effective means of controlling it.
IVIG for Crohns disease is effective for some people, and it remains an active area of research, as scientists look to develop IVIG products that will be safe and effective for a broader swath of people with the disease.
IVIG is a therapy that has been used to treat many conditions through the years, including autoimmune conditions, certain types of cancer, and serious infections. IVIG is made up of antibody proteins harvested from blood donations. It can take blood samples from a thousand or more people to produce an IVIG product with the right concentration of antibodies to target one persons specific conditions.
Crohns disease is an autoimmune condition, which means your bodys immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue as though it were fighting off an infection, for example. This atypical autoimmune response triggers inflammation, which in turn causes irritation, lesions, and other problems throughout your digestive tract.
IVIG may help lower intestinal inflammation, thus lowering your risk of complications and your symptom severity. A 2017 study suggests that IVIG may also interfere with the activation of your immune system response.
An IVIG infusion takes about 3 hours, though you can expect additional time for a healthcare professional to prepare the medications and place the intravenous (IV) catheter in a vein in your arm. Depending on the nature of your disease, you may have multiple infusions over a period of weeks or have them spread out over a period of months to help prevent flare-ups.
IVIG can be a safe and effective treatment for Crohns disease and ulcerative colitisthe other main type of IBDaccording to a 2015 study of people for whom other treatments werent effective. In the study, people taking medications for Crohns disease developed an intolerance for the drugs or they developed infections due to immunosuppressant medications, leaving them vulnerable to illness.
IVIG infusions are generally safe, and the risk of side effects is low. A headache, before or during the procedure, is somewhat common. A 2018 study of IVIG adverse effects suggests that the most common side effects are temporary and mild and that more serious risks, such as arrhythmia and anemia, are rare and often treatable.
The slow administration of the IVIG product may help alert the healthcare professional administering it to any early signs of serious side effects before lingering harm is done.
Some of the more common side effects that may occur within the first day or so after your IVIG therapy include:
To determine if youd be a good candidate for IVIG, you should talk about the risks and benefits of the treatment with a doctor or healthcare professional, as well as other treatment options. Since IVIG isnt a first-line treatment, the usual candidate for the infusion therapy is someone whose Crohns disease hasnt responded well to other treatments.
You may also be a good candidate for IVIG if your body doesnt produce enough antibodies or if you have one or more additional autoimmune conditionsapart from Crohns diseasethat arent well managed by other conventional treatments.
IVIG is appropriate for most children and adults.
If youre able to manage your Crohns disease with standard medications and dietary restrictions, then theres no need to pursue IVIG.
Other possible reasons to avoid IVIG include:
IVIG is used to treat a wide range of medical conditions, and its use in treating Crohns disease is growing. This is important because the medications and dietary changes that can help manage Crohns disease arent effective for everyone, so new options for people with this chronic autoimmune disease are welcome.
IVIG therapy is considered safe and effective for many people, but its important to speak with a doctor about all its possible risks and benefits.
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IVIG Treatment for Crohn's Disease: Effectiveness, Precautions - Healthline
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