The significance of measuring the ability of neutrophil's free radical release in esophagectomy patients using chemiluminescence method

Abstract

Using chemiluminescence method (CL method), we counted the ability of neutrophil's free radical relense (CL counts) in both esophagectomy and gastrectomy patients during postoperative period. CL counts in patients who underwent esophagectomy without doing chemotherapy or chemo-radiation therapy before surgery (un-treated esophagectomy group) were significantly higher than those in the gastrectomy group. It was considered that esophagectomy might be more invasive than gastrectomy.
We performed esophagectomy 4 weeks after the completion of preoperative treatment such as chemotherapy or chemo-radiation therapy. A comparison study between those treated and un-treated groups suggested no significant difference in CL counts during postoperative period. It was suggested that we could safely perform operation without entailing risks of postoperative immunological dysfunction in this period when the neutrophil function had improved.
CL counts in patients who developed postoperative infection after esophagectomy (infected group) were significantly higher than those in the non-infected group on and after the second postoperative day, and there were no significant changes between the infected and non-infected groups in WBC and CRP counts.
We thus consider that this CL method would serve as a good guide in detecting postoperative infection early in esophagectomy patients.