[Changes in immune status due to anesthesia and surgical intervention. The role of thymopentin and interleukins]

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at Thymopentin.

Purpose of the study was clinical evaluation of thymopentin and interleukins in the changes of immunity due to anesthesia and surgical operation.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 40 patients were involved.

PubMed indexes the participants as adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

After randomization the patients were divided into four groups according to starter type (thiopental or propofol) and immunological pre-treatment (tymopentin or saline of control group) administered for three days before and two days after operation.

The study was effected on 40 patients undergoing venous vascular surgery in operating rooms of Medical School of University of Genoa.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized and double-blind study.

The patients were allocated by chance, so the Thymopentin group and the comparison group should start out alike.

As a double-blind Thymopentin study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

A time span of three days appears in the methods.

At pre-established times (basal, before and after induction, recovery and 72 postoperative hours) were measured some immunological data (plasmatic concentrations of red blood cells, white blood cells, lymphocyte cells, antibodies, complement analysis, interleukins 1 and 2).

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Anesthesia, Interleukin-1, Interleukin-2, Leukopenia, Lymphocytosis, Postoperative Complications and Premedication.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and double-blind study of Thymopentin in 40 patients over three days.

Results are reported in around 2 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 1994 (Minerva anestesiologica), a journal based in Italy.

More context: the Thymopentin compound page, all human trials.