Follow-up and treatment of patients with Common Variable Immune Deficiency: A single-center experience

Abstract

Objectives: Common Variable Immunodeficiency (CVID) is a primary immunodeficiency characterized by immunoglobulin production defect. Our study aimed to create awareness of primary immunodeficiency in adult patients, establish standard approaches for clinical follow-up of CVID patients, and reveal the clinical characteristics of CVID patients in our region. Method: The study was conducted in patients with diagnosed and newly diagnosed CVID. The demographic and clinical characteristics of the patients and their treatment data were analyzed retrospectively and prospectively. Results: Thirteen of our patients were female and 12 were male. The mean age at diagnosis of the patients was 30.32 (2-57) and the mean delay in diagnosis was 9.32 months (0-30). The most common clinical finding of our patients at the time of admission was an infection. Among the infections identified, 3 patients had URTI, 19 had LRTI, and 2 had gastroenteritis. In 16 of our patients, bronchiectasis was detected at the time of diagnosis, and in 1 during the follow-up period. In the examinations performed in terms of organomegaly, splenomegaly was found in 11 patients and hepatomegaly was found in 8 patients. When patients were screened for autoimmune disease, ITP and celiac were found in 2 patients at the beginning, while autoimmune thyroiditis was developed in 1 patient and SLE in 1 patient during follow-up. Our patients were given IVIG treatment at regular intervals. The number of reactions seen in a total of 421 IVIG infusions was two. Conclusion: Primary immunodeficiencies should definitely be considered in patients with recurrent infections and resistance to antibiotic therapy. Patients should be followed according to established follow-up and treatment protocols in order to reduce and diagnose complications.