Masking of the symptoms of esophageal and bowel perforation by combination treatment of sepsis with polyvalent immunoglobulins and low-dose hydrocortisone.

Sepsis is usually treated with surgical drainage, antibiotics, oxygenation optimization and volume resuscitation. Recent monoclonal and polyclonal anti-bodies have been used to treat sepsis by neutralizing the endotoxins and cytokines found in septic patients. This method does not significantly reduce mortality except in certain sub-populations of the treatment groups. We introduced a combination approach for sepsis treatment. This adjuvant therapy consists of polyclonal human immunoglobins together with infusion of low-dose hydrocortisone. This paper reports the results of this treatment in two different cases.