Alteration of Interleukin-4, Interleukin-6 Levels, and Post-operative Pain Intensity

INTRODUCTION: Pain is defined as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage. Pain can be both a symptom of tissue trauma associated with surgery or disease in itself. Surgical procedures may induce different alterations of interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-6 that affect the variation of pain intensity during surgery. Therefore, appropriate pain management during a surgical procedure may reduce postoperative morbidity caused by surgical pain. METHODS: This prospective cohort study included patients by consecutive sampling from all general anaesthetic patients in Dr. M Djamil Hospital and Andalas University Hospital, Padang, West Sumatera. We collected data from early November 2021 until the end of January 2022 and got 90 patients that suit the criteria. All patients signed informed consent to check their interleukin level and pain intensity before and after surgery. We assessedIL-4 and IL-6 using the Sandwich-ELISA technique and pain intensity using the numeric rating scale (NRS). We also measured length of surgery and its correlation to IL-4, IL-6, and NRS score. Patients were anesthetized with General Anesthesia and received the same fentanyl range of dosage (3-5) mcg/kg Ketorolac 30 mg and Tramadol 100 mg intravenous were given for postoperative analgesia. RESULT: We found a significant correlation between ΔIL-6 with surgical procedures, ΔNRS score, and length of surgery p = 0.039, p = 0.002, and p = 0.008, respectively). Whereas ΔIL-4 shows no significant correlation to surgical procedures, ΔNRS score, and length of operation (0.868, 0.195, and 0.112, respectively). Our result also found a significant correlation between ΔNRS and surgical procedures (p = 0.013). CONCLUSION: Surgical procedures with severe tissue trauma may trigger high secretion of ΔIL6 and stimulate high pain intensity after the surgical procedure.