Immunodeficiency after major trauma and selective surgery.

The posttrauma immunodeficiency syndrome and the related postsurgery immunodeficiency syndrome are essential for the infections often occurring after polytrauma and major surgery. Data are given here showing that after such events the levels of immunoglobulins; the complement factors C3C, C4 and C Factor B; and the numbers of circulating lymphocytes and of the subpopulations CD3, CD4, CD8 and natural killer cells as well as the stimulatory capacity of mononuclear cells to mitogen fall; while the levels of acute phase proteins, neopterin and interleukin 2 receptors and the spontaneous uptake of thymidine by mononuclear cells become augmented. Extent and duration of these changes and the rate of subsequent infections depend on the extent and kind of surgery (minor, major, clean, contaminated). However, crucial factors of the posttrauma and postsurgery immunodeficiency syndromes are not yet elucidated and relevant predictive parameters for infections are not at hand. These are essential prerequisites to initiate future immunomodulatory measures which should be added to the use of intravenous immunoglobulins yielding so far distinct but limited benefits for the prevention of infections after polytrauma and major surgery.