Objective: To measure the concentrations of endotoxin and inflammatory mediators during an attack of acute cholangitis and see what effect endoscopic treatment had on these mediators.
Design: Prospective study.
Setting: University teaching hospital The Netherlands.
Subjects: Ten patients with acute cholangitis.
Interventions: Measurements were made during the attack and 1 week after endoscopic treatment.
Main outcome measure: Changes in clinical variables, and severity of biliary obstruction. Concentrations of endotoxin, cytokines, and endotoxin binding proteins, in plasma.
Results: The causes of cholangitis were obstructed endoprosthesis (n = 4) and stones (n = 6). The median bilirubin concentration during the attack was 70.0 micromol/L (range 14-156) and 14.5 micromol/L (range 9-80) after treatment (p < 0.05). Median (range) plasma endotoxin concentrations were 3.6 pg/ml (3.2-107) and 3.6 (2.4-5), respectively. Concentrations of cytokines were high during the acute attack and significantly lower after treatment: median tumour necrosis factor (TNF) fell from 44.6 pg/ml (range 1.2-403) to 7.3 (0-53); soluble TNF receptor p55 from 4.9 ng/ml (2.7-13.8) to 3.6 (1.4-8.2) and TNF receptor p75 from 11.6 ng/ml (7.1-40.6) to 8.1 (2.9-31.3); interleukin 6 (IL-6) fell from 690 pg/ml (34.1-4594) to 8.2 (0-39.3), IL-8 from 226.2 pg/ml (31.6-712.7) to 21.4 (4.2-63.5) and IL-10 from 33.4 pg/ml (2.7-5605) to 4.7 (0-16.7) (p < 0.03). Values for lipopolysaccharide binding protein and soluble CD14 also fell significantly (p < 0.01) from 86.5 (43.4-200) to 21.5 (11.3-37.5) and from 200 (59-200) to 47.8 (0.47-200), respectively. The concentration of bactericidal permeability increasing protein did not change significantly, being 7.1 (2-18.9) during the acute attack and 4.6 (0.8-17.7) a week later.
Conclusion: There is a considerable systemic inflammatory response during cholangitis, which is dramatically reduced one week after endoscopic treatment.