The effect of anesthesia on the postoperative systemic inflammatory response in patients undergoing surgery: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Background Surgical injury stimulates the systemic inflammatory response (SIR). The magnitude of the post-operative SIR has been shown to be significantly associated with short and long-term outcomes following surgery of varying severity. Different anesthetic techniques for surgery may have an impact on the post-operative SIR and on the rate of the postoperative infective complications. The aim of the present systematic review was to examine the relationship between perioperative anesthesia, the post-operative SIR and post-operative infective complications in patients undergoing surgery. Methods This was carried out using PubMed and other established databases from 1987 up to March 2018. In particular, randomized controlled studies and systemic inflammation markers, IL-6 and CRP were examined. Results Overall, 60 controlled, randomized clinical trials were included in the review. The mean or median values of both IL-6 and CRP were taken for each study and the mean value was calculated for each anesthetic group at sampling points of 12–24 and 24–72 hours for IL-6 and CRP respectively. When taking the magnitude of surgery into account, TIVA using propofol was significantly associated with a reduction in particular CRP (p = 0.04). However, there were no other specific anesthetic methods including general, regional and combined anesthetics that were associated with a reduction in either IL-6 or CRP. Conclusion There is some evidence that anesthetic regimens may reduce the magnitude of the post-operative SIR. However, the studies were heterogeneous and generally of low quality. Future, well conducted, adequately powered studies are required to clarify the effect of anesthesia on the postoperative SIR and infective complications.