Cardiac arrest patients have an impaired immune response, which is not influenced by induced hypothermia

Induced hypothermia is increasingly applied as a therapeutic intervention in ICUs. One of the underlying mechanisms of the beneficial effects of hypothermia is proposed to be reduction of the inflammatory response. However, a fear of reducing the inflammatory response is an increased infection risk. Therefore, we studied the effect of induced hypothermia on immune response after cardiac arrest.

A prospective observational cohort study in a mixed surgical-medical ICU. Patients admitted at the ICU after surviving cardiac arrest were included and during 24 hours body temperature was strictly regulated at 33°C or 36°C. Blood was drawn at three time points: after reaching target temperature, at the end of the target temperature protocol and after rewarming to 37°C. Plasma cytokine levels and response of blood leucocytes to stimulation with toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Gram-negative bacteria and lipoteicoic acid (LTA) from Gram-positive bacteria were measured. Also, monocyte HLA-DR expression was determined.

In total, 20 patients were enrolled in the study. Compared to healthy controls, cardiac arrest patients kept at 36°C (n = 9) had increased plasma cytokines levels, which was not apparent in patients kept at 33°C (n = 11). Immune response to TLR ligands in patients after cardiac arrest was generally reduced and associated with lower HLA-DR expression. Patients kept at 33°C had preserved ability of immune cells to respond to LPS and LTA compared to patients kept at 36°C. These differences disappeared over time. HLA-DR expression did not differ between 33°C and 36°C.

Patients after cardiac arrest have a modest systemic inflammatory response compared to healthy controls, associated with lower HLA-DR expression and attenuated immune response to Gram-negative and Gram-positive antigens, the latter indicative of an impaired immune response to bacteria. Patients with a body temperature of 33°C did not differ from patients with a body temperature of 36°C, suggesting induced hypothermia does not affect immune response in patients with cardiac arrest.

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01020916, registered 25 November 2009.