Peripheral edema after esophagectomy

Patients who have undergone major surgery such as esophagectomy may develop peripheral edema in the immediate postoperative period, the cause of which is not fully understood. The purpose of this study was therefore to determine the mechanism of this phenomenon. Finger edema was measured as a marker for peripheral edema before and after esophagectomy in eight patients. Plasma interleukin-6 (IL-6) was also measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Finger edema markedly increased in the immediate postoperative period and remained significantly elevated until after postoperative day (POD) 3 compared to the preoperative value (P < 0.05). Plasma IL-6 also markedly increased in the immediate postoperative period and remained significantly elevated on POD 2 compared to the preoperative value (P < 0.05). The degree of finger edema highly correlated with the level of plasma IL-6 (r = 0.71, P = 0.0001). These findings indicate that peripheral edema after esophagectomy might be caused by a proinflammatory cytokine response.