MASKING OF THE SYMPTOMS OF ESOPHAGEAL AND BOWEL PERFORATION BY COMBINATION TREATMENT OF SEPSIS WITH POLYVALENT IMMUNOGLOBULINS AND LOW-DOSEHYDROCORTISONE

Sepsis is usually treated with surgical drainage, antibotics, oxygenat ion optimization and volume resucitation. Recent monoclonal and polycl onal anti-bodies have been used to treat sepsis by neutralizing the en dotoxins and cytokines found in septic patients. This method does not significantly reduce mortality except in certain, sub-populations of t he treatment groups. We introduced a combination approach for sepsis t reatment. This adjuvant therapy consists of polyclonal human immunoglo bins together with infusion of low-dose hydrocortisone. This paper rep orts the results of this treatment in two different cases.