Cardiac Surgery is Associated with Biomarker Evidence of Neuronal Damage

BACKGROUND: Anesthesia and surgery is commonly associated with central nervous system sequelae and cognitive symptoms, which may be caused by neuronal injury. Neuronal injury can be monitored by plasma concentrations of the neuronal biomarkers tau and neurofilament light protein (NFL). Currently, there are no studies examining whether neuronal injury varies between surgical procedures. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to investigate if neuronal damage is more frequent after cardiac than after otolaryngeal surgery, as estimated by tau and NFL concentrations in plasma. METHODS: Blood samples were drawn before, during, and after surgery and concentrations of tau, NFL, Aβ40, and Aβ42 were measured in 25 patients undergoing cardiac surgery (9 off-pump and 16 on-pump) and 26 patients undergoing otolaryngeal surgery. RESULTS: Tau increased during surgery (1752%, p = 0.0001) and NFL rose seven days post-surgery (1090%, p < 0.0001) in patients undergoing cardiac surgery; even more in patients on-pump than off-pump. No changes were observed in patients undergoing otolaryngeal surgery and only minor fluctuations were observed for Aβ40 and Aβ42. CONCLUSION: Cardiac surgery is associated with neuronal injury, which is aggravated by extracorporeal circulation. Analyses of NFL and tau in blood may guide development of surgical procedures to minimize neuronal damage, and may also be used in longitudinal clinical studies to assess the relationship of surgery with future neurocognitive impairment or dementia

IGFBP3 in Patients with Advanced Stomach Carcinoma

IGF peptides family plays important role in cell growth and apoptosis regulation both in normal and neoplastic cells. The aim of the study was assessment of IGFBP3 expression in main mass of tumor and metastatic lymph node in patients with advanced stage stomach carcinoma and correlation with selected prognostic and clinico-pathological factors. The study group consisted of 76 patients with advanced stage stomach carcinoma (24 women and 52 men). Mean patientsrsquo age was 60,4 (30-78) yrs. Immunohistochemical staining with monoclonal anti IGFBP3 antibody (mouse IgG2B monoclonal anti-human IGFBP3 antibody) was used for IGF BP3 assessment. Statistical analysis revealed no correlation between chosen clinical and pathological parameters and expression of IGFBP3 protein in the lymph node with metastasis. No correlation was found between expression of IGFBP3 in the main mass of tumor and patientrsquos gender, tumor location, depth of invasion in the wall, histological differentiation, Bormannrsquos classification, Laurenrsquos classification as well as expressions in the lymph node with metastasis. Moreover, there was no association between expression of IGFBP3 and overall postoperative survival time (data not published). Positive expression of IGFBP3 protein in main mass of tumor was observed mainly in poorly differentiated tumors located in 1/3 of middle and 1/3 lower part and in all stomach. Similarly, positive expression of IGFBP3 in lymph node metastasis was associated with diffuse type of cancers, type IV (according Bormannrsquos classification) and low stage of histological differentiation G3