Elevation of plasma interleukin-6 level is involved in postoperative fever following major oral and maxillofacial surgery.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the changes in plasma cytokine levels including interleukin-6 (IL-6) interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) are involved in postoperative fever following oral and maxillofacial surgery.


METHODS
Ten patients undergoing elective oral and maxillofacial surgery were studied. We investigated the plasma cytokine levels by using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and measured the core temperature and degree of postoperative shivering and peripheral vasoconstriction after surgery. The relationships between the changes in plasma cytokine levels and postoperative fever were statistically evaluated using Spearman's rank correlation coefficients.


RESULTS
The elevation of plasma IL-6 level was significantly correlated with the increase in core temperature after surgery and with the degree of postoperative shivering and vasoconstriction, whereas the changes in plasma II-1 beta or TNF-alpha levels were not.


CONCLUSIONS
Elevation of plasma IL-6 level is probably involved in postoperative fever following oral and maxillofacial surgery.
Miyawaki
T
T
Department of Dental Anesthesiology, Okayama University Dental Hospital, Japan.
Maeda
S
S
Koyama
Y
Y
Fukuoka
R
R
Shimada
M
M
D000368:Aged; D001833:Body Temperature Regulation; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005334:Fever / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007375:Interleukin-1 / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008339:Mandibular Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D019647:Oral Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000032:analysis / Q000276:immunology
D007375:Interleukin-1; D015850:Interleukin-6; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha