Post-operative pulmonary complications such as systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) are strongly associated with morbidity and mortality after esophagectomy. Post-operative administration of sivelestat sodium hydrate (sivelestat), a selective inhibitor of neutrophil elastase (NE), has been shown to improve the post-operative clinical course after esophagectomy. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of prophylactic administration of sivelestat on bronchial inflammatory responses. We randomized 24 patients into two groups. One group received 0.2 mg/kg/h sivelestat from the induction of anesthesia to post-operative day 1 (sivelestat group) and the other group received the same amount of physiological saline (control group). Bronchial alveolar epithelial lining fluid (ELF) samples were obtained from both groups at the induction of anesthesia and at the end of surgery. The serum and ELF levels of interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and NE activity was spectrophotometrically determined using the same samples. Although IL-6 levels in the ELF significantly increased at the end of surgery compared with the pre-operative levels in both groups, the IL-8 levels and NE activity did not significantly increase at the end of the surgery compared to the corresponding pre-operative values in the sivelestat group. Moreover, IL-8 levels and NE activity in the ELF were significantly reduced at the end of surgery in the sivelestat group compared with corresponding values in the control group. The durations of ALI and ARDS were apparently shorter in the sivelestat group and the duration of SIRS was significantly shorter in the sivelestat group compared to the control group. We demonstrated that prophylactic use of sivelestat mitigated bronchial inflammation by suppressing NE activity and IL-8 levels in the ELF and shortened the duration of SIRS after transthoracic esophagectomy.

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