NK CELL ACTIVITY REGARDING DELIRIUM

我们测定和比较了26例心血管疾病手术前患者血浆去甲肾上腺素主要代谢产物游离3-methoxy-4-hydroxy-phenyl-(ethylene)glycol(pMHPG)，水平和自然杀伤(NK)细胞活性，其中11例患者表现为妄想，15例患者没有。综上所述，我们发现有术后精神障碍的患者术前pMHPG水平高于无术后精神障碍的患者，而NK细胞活性在两组间无差异。去甲肾上腺素能神经元的过度活动可能与术后妄想的发生有关。此外，我们认为，术前测量pMHPG水平可能是预测术后精神错乱发生的有用工具。

We measured and comparaed levels of plasma free 3-methoxy-4-hydroxy-phenyl-(ethylene)glycol(pMHPG), a major metabolite of noradrenaline, and natural killer(NK)cell activity in 26 patients prior to undergoing operations for cardiovascular diseases 11 of whom expressed delirium and 15 of which did not. In conclusion, we found that pMHPG levels before the operations were higher in patients with post-operative delirium than in the patients without, while NK cell activity showed no difference between the two groups. It is possible that hyperactivity of noradrenargic neurons is connected with the development of post-operative delirium. Further, we considered that measurements of pMHPG level before operation might be a useful tool to predict the occurrence of post-operative delirium.