Medical Definitions Medical Definitions and Terminology
How to diagnose common variable immunodeficiency? How dangerous is common variable immunodeficiency? Can you recover from common variable immunodeficiency? Let’s find out about common variable immunodeficiency symptoms and treatment guidelines!
Common Variable Immunodeficiency Definition
Common variable immunodeficiency meaning: What is common variable immunodeficiency? Common variable immunodeficiency is the most common symptomatic primary immunodeficiency disorder. It is a heterogeneous immunodeficiency disorder characterized by a higher rate of recurrent infections, autoimmune phenomena, and cancers.
Common Variable Immunodeficiency Causes
What causes common variable immunodeficiency? What is the most common cause of common variable immunodeficiency?
Most people get it when they are young adults, but it can happen at any age. About 1 out of every 25,000 people in the United States have common variable immunodeficiency. About 10–20% of cases are passed down through families.
Common Variable Immunodeficiency Diagnosis
- Humoral immune deficiency causes frequent infections in the sinuses and lungs.
- Low levels of immunoglobulin in the blood and ineffective antibody responses.
- The main problem could be with either B cells or T cells.
Common Variable Immunodeficiency Symptoms
Signs and symptoms of common variable immunodeficiency – What are some symptoms of common variable immunodeficiency?
The disease is characterized by an increased risk of infections, especially from organisms that have a protective shell around them. Chronic lung disease is one of the most common side effects of common variable immunodeficiency. In addition, almost all patients suffer from recurring sinusitis, bronchitis, otitis, pharyngitis, and pneumonia are common infections.
Infections can last long or be linked to unusual complications like meningitis, empyema, or sepsis. Bronchiectasis affects at least 25% of people with common variable immunodeficiency and is a leading cause of morbidity.
Common variable immunodeficiency is often linked to GI infections and dysfunction. Patients may develop a sprue-like syndrome with diarrhea, steatorrhea, malabsorption, protein-losing enteropathy, and hepatosplenomegaly.
Surprisingly, the number of people with autoimmune disease has increased by 20%, even though patients may not show the usual serologic markers.
Autoimmune cytopenias are the most common, but autoimmune endocrinopathies, seronegative rheumatic disease, and gastrointestinal disorders are also common. Even though the lymph nodes may be bigger in these people, biopsies show a big drop in plasma cells.
Noncaseating granulomas are often found in the spleen, liver, lungs, or skin. In addition, there is a 50- to 400-fold increased risk of lymphoma and gastric carcinomas.
Laboratory Findings
Assess serum quantitative immunoglobulin levels. All patients with common variable immunodeficiency have a lower IgG level in their blood; either IgM or IgA or both are also lower.
It’s important to show that there are functional or quantitative problems with antibody production. This is usually done by checking the antibody response to polysaccharide (Pneumovax-23) and protein antigens (such as tetanus and diphtheria).
The diagnosis is made when secondary causes are ruled out. For example, a patient has low serum immunoglobulins and poor antibody response to vaccines (e.g., proteinuria, protein-losing enteropathy, drug effects such as rituximab and other immunosuppressants, antiepileptics, and hematologic malignancies).
Absolute B-cell count in the peripheral blood can be normal. However, some people also have T-cell immunodeficiency, increased numbers of activated CD8 cells, splenomegaly, and less delayed-type hypersensitivity.
Common Variable Immunodeficiency Treatment and Management Guidelines
Treatment of common variable immunodeficiency – What is the best treatment for common variable immunodeficiency?
At the first sign of an infection, patients with common variable immunodeficiency should be given antibiotics right away. Antibody deficiency makes people more likely to get high-risk pyogenic infections, so antibiotic coverage should include bacteria in a shell.
Other microorganisms, like viruses, parasites, and extracellular gram-positive or gram-negative bacteria, can also cause infections (such as S aureus or P aeruginosa).
Immunoglobulin replacement therapy, usually given once a month at a dose of 300–600 mg/kg, is the mainstay of preventive therapy. IgG subcutaneous injections are easy to give yourself at home and have less chance of causing side effects. They can be given every 1–4 weeks.
Adjustments to the dose or the time between infusions are mostly based on clinical responses and serum IgG levels. This therapy is important for lowering the number of infections that could be life-threatening, improving the quality of life, and slowing the progress of lung disease.
I hope you understand common variable immunodeficiency symptoms and treatment guidelines.
