CONCENTRATIONS OF CYTOKINES IN PERITONEAL-FLUID AFTER ABDOMINAL-SURGERY

Objective: To assess the role of concentrations of cytokines in perito neal fluid in estimating the severity of the host's response to the st ress of abdominal operations. Design: Prospective study. Setting: Univ ersity hospital, Japan. Subject: 49 patients who underwent various abd ominal operations. Main outcome measures-Correlations between concentr ations of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-1beta ( IL-1beta), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in peritoneal fluid measured on th e first postoperative day on the one hand, and peritoneal bacterial co unt, length of operation, and operative blood loss, on the other. Resu lts: The concentrations of all three peritoneal cytokines correlated s ignificantly with length of operation; those of TNF-alpha and IL-1beta also correlated significantly with peritoneal bacterial count, and th at of IL-1beta with operative blood loss. There were significant corre lations between the concentrations of the three cytokines. Conclusion: These correlations suggest that monitoring of the peritoneal concentr ations of TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, and IL-6 may be helpful in estimating t he severity of stress caused by abdominal operations.