How are patients with an IgG subclass deficiency classified under the new Criteria?
Under the Criteria, patients previously receiving IVIg therapy for IgG subclass deficiency should be reviewed under the condition ‘Specific antibody deficiency’ if they are no longer experiencing serious infections. It is now generally agreed that IgG subclass level estimation in serum is relatively poorly predictive of infectious risk and is of limited value in the definition of those patients most likely to benefit from IVIg therapy. Many patients with previously diagnosed IgG subclass deficiency and recurrent infection on IVIg may have specific functional antibody deficits.
