Acute phase proteins and infectious complications after surgery for esophageal cancer.

Severe septic complications are the major cause of operative mortality in patients with esophageal cancer. We examined the levels of acute phase proteins together with infection-related complications after surgery in a large number of patients with esophageal cancer and compared them with a group of patients with gastric cancer and healthy controls. Elevations in alpha 1-antitrypsin, alpha 1-acidglycoprotein, haptoglobin and ceruloplasmin were evident in patients with esophageal cancer, being more predominant when compared to the findings in patients with gastric cancer. Although the mean levels of alpha 2-macroglobulin were not significantly elevated in either patients with esophageal cancer or those with gastric cancer, the average level immediately prior to surgery was higher in esophageal cancer patients with postoperative septic complications than in those without any such problems. Preoperative radiation therapy and total parenteral nutrition did not significantly alter the levels of acute phase proteins. It would thus appear that the elevation in alpha 2-macroglobulin is associated with the occurrence of infectious complications following surgery in patients with esophageal cancer.