Changes in the cytokine network through escalating SIRS after heart surgery

Abstract

Changes in the Cytokine Network Through Escalating SIRS After Heart Surgery. Cardiopulmonary bypass is associated with an injury that may cause pathophysiological changes in form of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) or multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS). There is a lot of information about the immunologic alterations in patients undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass, but only little is known about the expression of cytokines in patients with severe SIRS or MODS following cardiovascular surgery. In the present study, we investigated the inflammatory response of patients with an escalating SIRS following open heart surgery. Plasma levels of cytokines (IL-1beta, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12, IL-18, GM-CSF and TGF-beta) were measured at the first four postoperative days in 12 adult male patients with severe SIRS (SIRS-group), and 15 patients with uncomplicated course (control-group) following myocardial revascularization. All cytokines (except IL-1beta) were significantly elevated in SIRS-patients, the analysis of differences between the survivors and non-survivors within the SIRS-group showed dramatically elevated levels of IL-8 and IL-18 in non-survivors. From the results of our investigation we can conclude that monitoring of immunologic parameters, e.g. IL-8 and/or IL-18 may be helpful for the early detection and prognosis of high-risk patients with severe SIRS and MODS following cardiac surgery.