[Immunoglobulin therapy in patients after autologous and allogeneic bone marrow transplantation].

Following bone marrow transplantation many patients are suffering from an impaired immunoglobulin production. Treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin has significantly reduced the incidence of infections as well as severe graft-versus-host disease during the early posttransplant period. However, no complete protection of the patients has been achieved. According to our own observations, especially patients with a decreased production of IgM antibodies seem to have an increased risk of cytomegalovirus-induced pneumonitis. During the late posttransplant period, patients with IgG subclass deficiency are at risk of acquiring gram-positive infections. However, randomized studies investigating the effect of immunoglobulin treatment during the late posttransplant phase have not yet been conducted.