ABSTRACT
As anaesthetists are presented with patients with inflammatory conditions (sepsis, inflammatory bowel disease, or connective tissue disorders) and those who will develop an inflammatory condition secondary to surgery (sepsis, cardiopulmonary bypass, or organ transplantation), in the future they may need to administer agents that modulate the expression or effects of adhesion molecules during surgery. Steroids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and a new class of agents, leumidins, can also be used perioperatively to modulate adhesion molecule expression.
