Compositional, structural, and functional alterations in pulmonary surfactant in surgical patients after the early onset of systemic inflammatory response syndrome or sepsis

Objectives: Sepsis is one of the most important predisposing factors for th e development of the acute respiratory distress syn drome (ARDS). Alteratio ns of pulmonary surfactant contribute in the pathogenesis of ARDS. However, little is known about surfactant in patients with less severe grades of lu ng injury related to sepsis or systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIR S). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to characterize endogenous sur factant in surgical intensive care patients with sepsis or SIRS. Design: Prospective, observational study. Setting: University-affiliated, interdisciplinary intensive care unit. Patients: Eleven patients after major surgery with SIRS or sepsis included within 12 hrs of onset and 11 controls without infection or lung disease. Interventions: Operating room and standard intensive care unit management. Measurements and Main Results: Four serial bronchoalveolar lavage samples ( BAL) were recovered over 7 days from the patients and single BAL samples we re obtained from controls. BAL cells, total protein, surfactant-associated protein A (SP-A), surfactant alveolar transition forms, and surface activit y were analyzed. Two of 11 patients met criteria for acute lung injury and six of the It patients met ARDS consensus conference criteria but acute lun g injury or ARDS was not persistent. The mean PaO2/FIO2, for the patients o ver 7 days was 253.2 +/- 15.1 (SEM) and Murray's lung injury score was 1.12 +/- 0.12, indicating mild to moderate lung injury. BAL neutrophil counts w ere increased (p<.01), and the ratio of poorly functioning light aggregate surfactant to superiorly functioning heavy aggregate surfactant was increas ed compared with controls (0.32 +/- 0.06 vs. 0.09 +/- 0.01, p<.05). SP-A wa s decreased (1.9 +/- 0.4 vs. 3.5 +/- 0.6 mu g/mL of BAL, p<.05) and there w ere increases in the ratios of phospholipid to SP-A (p<.05), protein to SP- A (p<.01), and protein to phospholipid (p<.05). The surface tension-lowerin g ability of purified heavy aggregate surfactant was significantly impaired (15.6 +/- 1.6 vs. 2.8 +/- 0.6 milliNewtons/m, p<.05). Conclusions: These observations show that surgical patients with SIRS or se psis who have mild-to moderate lung injury develop surfactant dysfunction d etectable within 7 days of onset. We propose, therefore, that therapeutic s trategies to modulate these severe surfactant abnormalities should be consi dered, as these strategies may have the potential to reduce lung injury, wh ich is associated with a high mortality in sepsis.