Uni-ventricular palliation vs. bi-ventricular repair: differential inflammatory response

Background To examine whether uni-ventricular palliation (UVP) and bi-ventricular repair (BVR) result in a different pattern of systemic inflammatory response to pediatric cardiac surgery with extra-corporeal circulation (ECC). Methods In 20 children (median age 39.5 months) undergoing either UVP ( n = 12) or BVR ( n = 8), plasma levels of the inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-6, IL-10, and IL-12 and of procalcitonin (PCT), were measured before, during and after open cardiac surgery up to postoperative day (POD) 10. Results Epidemiologic, operative- and outcome variables were similar in both groups but post-operative central venous pressure that was higher in UVP. In the whole cohort, the inflammatory response was characterized by an early important, significant and parallel increase of IL-6 and IL-10 that reached their peak values either at the end of ECC (IL-10) or 4 h postoperatively (IL-6), respectively and by a significant and parallel decrease of TNF-α and IL-12 levels after connection to ECC, followed by a bi-phasic significant increase with a first peak 4 h after ECC and a second at POD 10, respectively. Patients after UVP showed a shift of the cytokine balance with lower IL-6- ( p = 0.01) after connection to ECC, lower early post-operative TNF-α - ( p = 0.02) and IL-12- ( p = 0.04) concentrations and lower TNF-α/IL-10-ratio ( p = 0.03) as compared with patients with BVR. Levels of PCT were similar in both groups. Conclusions UVP is associated with an anti-inflammatory shift of the inflammatory response to cardiac surgery that might be related to the particular hemodynamic situation of patients with UVP.