Background: The cytokines have a major role in the inflammatory response to surgery and trauma. They have local effects of mediating and maintaining the inflammatory response to tissue injury, and also initiate some of the systemic changes which occur. IL-6 is one of the above mentioned cytokines, but it is not clear whether the duration of trauma or surgery has some effect on IL-6 level, so the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between plasma levels IL-6 and duration of orthognathic surgery.
Materials and Methods: Twenty eight patients underwent orthognathic surgery were enrolled in this study. Blood samples were collected one day before and 4 hours after surgery for assessment the levels of plasma IL-6 which was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent essay.
Results: We found a significant elevation of plasma IL-6 level at 4 hours after surgery (P<0.05). Moreover, the elevation of plasma IL-6 level was correlated with the duration of surgery.
Conclusion: IL-6 is an important inflammatory mediator that its concentration is increased with the duration of surgery.