the effect of spinal and general anesthesia on cytokine serum levels following cesarean section in preeclampsia

Background: the purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of different anesthetic techniques on the release of cytokines interleukin il-6, il-10 and tumor necrosis factor (tnf)-α in preeclampsia patients who undergo cesarean section. materials and methods: in the study 40 patients were enrolled with preeclampsia undergoing cesarean section, allocated into two equal groups to receive either general anesthesia (n = 20) or spinal anesthesia (n = 20). non- invasive hemodynamic monitoring was used. serum levels of il-6, il-10 and tnf-α were measured before and at the end of surgery. results: there was no significant rise in serum levels of tnf-α in general anesthesia while il-6 and il-10 serum levels increased significantly. also, compared with patients anaesthetized with general anesthesia patients who received regional anesthesia notably had lower levels of il-6 and il-10 after surgery (p < 0.05). conclusion: spinal anesthesia causes significant difference in post-operation il-6 and il-10 serum levels in preeclampsia patients undergoing cesarean section. nevertheless, neither general nor spinal anesthesia made such effect on serum level of tnf-α. further studies with higher sample size and comparing preeclamptic patients to healthy mothers undergoing cesarean section are required.