Abstract
The effect of epidural anesthesia and surgery on cell-mediated immunity was inves-tigated in 8 patients undergoing either total or subtotal gastrectomy. Peripheral lymphocytes and their functional subpopulations were analyzed by single and two-color analysis using monoclonal antibodies against lymphocyte membrane surface markers. The number of helper and inducer T cells (using Leu3a and Leu8), suppressor and cytotoxic T cells (using Leu2a and Leul5), natural killer cells (using Leull and Leu7) and active T cells (using Leu4 and HLA-DR) were measured before induction, one and two hour after skin incision. Each subpopulation did not change significantly during epidural anesthesia. This result suggested that the epidural anesthesia did not change cell-mediated immunity, which was usually suppressed during halothane or enflurane anesthesia.
