A prospective study of serum cytokine levels was performed in patients
randomly assigned to undergo either laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC)
or open cholecystectomy (OC), The kinetics of serum interleukin-1 bet
a (IL-1 beta), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-
alpha), interleukin-10 (IL-10), and cortisol were studied in both grou
ps of patients, Cytokine and cortisol levels were measured in serum sa
mples from patients who underwent either LC (n = 14) or OC (n = 14) us
ing enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and radioimmunoassay, respective
ly, Serum samples were obtained 24 h before surgery and 24 h and 7 day
s after surgery, IL-6 levels differed significantly (p < 0.05) between
the LC and OC groups, IL-1 beta, IL-10, TNF-alpha and cortisol levels
showed no significant differences (p > 0.05), Kinetic studies of IL-6
, IL-1 beta and TNF-alpha Laparoscopy levels revealed them to behave s
imilarly. 24 h after surgery the levels of these cytokines were higher
than those 24 h before surgery, These levels normalized by 7 days aft
er surgery, Cytokine concentrations were always higher in the OC group
than in the LC group, IL-1 beta and IL-10 levels were the most stable
in both groups, though cortisol levels were also fairly stable.