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Introduction Cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is a recognized trigger of systemic inflammatory response, usually related to postoperative acute lung injury (ALI). As an attempt to dampen inflammatory response, steroids have been perioperatively administered to patients. Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), a regulator of the endotoxin receptor, is implicated in the pathogenesis of ALI. We have previously detected peak circulating levels of MIF, 6 hours post CPB. Experimental data have shown that steroids may induce MIF secretion by mononuclear cells. This study aims to correlate levels of MIF assayed 6 hours post CPB to the intensity of postoperative pulmonary dysfunction, analysing the impact of perioperative steroid administration.
Azevedo et al. (Wed,) studied this question.