INTRODUCTION. Surgery in infants is often associated with pulmonary inflammation. Sometimes, the blood level of proinflammatory factors IL-6 and IL-8 is increased. The number of neutrophils is raised as well. A qualitative evaluation of the factors, cellular composition analysis of nonbronchoscopic trachebronchial suction (NTL) combined with clinical findings can help early diagnose pneumonia. The objective of the study was to reveal the blood level of proinflammatory cytokines, as well as examine the NTL cellular composition and cytokine level in infants before and after surgery.
METHODS. We studied 24 infants. 15 patients underwent CPB surgery, 9 patients were operated without CPB. In 7 cases a diagnosis of pneumonia was made between 3 and 5 days postoperatively.
RESULTS. The blood cytokine concentration in operated infants pre- and postoperatively is presented in the study. A significant increase in proinflammatory factors after surgery can be observed. We examined the NTL of 9 infants who underwent surgery and who did not develop pneumonia. We noticed that number of neutrophils increased significantly in all patients after CPB surgery, sometimes reaching 80%. We consider it as a sign of pulmonary inflammation. The number of nonviable alveolar macrophages before and after surgery exceeded 50%. It indicates a decrease in cellular pulmonary protection.
CONCLUSION. Thus, an increase in the blood level of proinflammatory cytokines was observed in infants who underwent surgery. At sometimes, the NTL relative number of neutrophils was increased. An early detection of the mentioned factors appears to be a diagnostic marker of the pulmonary inflammation onset.