Abstract
Systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) symptoms immediately after surgery have lately been regarded as potential warnings of impending postoperative complications and multiple organ failure. Reports discussing the relationship between operative stress and SIRS are found in the filed of digestive surgery, but not in that of oral surgery. Fifty-five oral cancer cases who had undergone neck dissection (Level III or higher) from January 1998 to December 2001 were involved in this study. We assigned 25 cases who met two of the several diagnostic criteria for SIRS and continued to meet them for at least 24 hours after surgery to the SIRS group. The other 30patients were assigned to the non-SIRS group. Postoperative complications occurred in 56.0% of the SIRS group and 6.7% of the non-SIRS group (p<0.05) . In six cases, the postoperative fluctuation of IL-6 level was evaluated. These results suggest the importance of careful management of postoperative SIRS patients to prevent complications.
