A review of intravenous immunoglobulin used to treat neonatal sepsis by Ohlsson et al, reported significantly positive outcome with use. However, researchers from Centro Universitario Lusiada in Brazil found no such correlation in a September 2012 review of seven randomized clinical trials pulled from Medline.
The trials represented 3,756 neonatal patients. In 3,672 cases mean hospital stay was reported. According to the reference studies, length of hospital stay was reduced by 1.24 days, but overall outcome with use of intravenous immunoglobulin to treat neonatal sepsis was no statistically significant. Due to the cost of the treatment, researchers involved with the study concluded that no benefit in terms of mortality was shown and the small reduction in hospital stay was not relevant enough to support the use of the treatment.
Source: Franco AC, Torrico AC, Moreira FT, Sá FP, D'Elia HV, Bernardo WM. Adjuvant use of intravenous immunoglobulin in the treatment of neonatal sepsis: a systematic review with a meta-analysis. J Pediatr (Rio J). 2012 Sep 21.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23002082
