Central European Journal of Immunology 2014; 39(4)532 Review paper DOI: 10.5114/ceji.2014.47741

surgical trauma affects both the innate and acquired immunity. the severity of immune disorders is proportional to the extent of surgical trauma and depends on a number of factors, including primarily the basic disease requiring surgical treatment (e.g. cancer), often coexisting infections and impaired nutritional status. Disorder of the immune response following surgical trauma may predispose to septic complications burdened with the highest mortality rate. Extensive surgery in cancer patients is asso-ciated with simultaneous activation of pro- and anti-inflammatory processes defined as sirs (system-ic inflammatory immune response) and CARS (compensatory anti-inflammatory immune response). However, it is generally believed that major surgical trauma is accompanied by sustained postopera-tive immunosuppression, which is particularly important in patients operated on for cancer, since the suppression of the immune system promotes not only septic complications, but also proliferation and tumor metastasis. this paper reviews the main features of immune response to surgical trauma and possibilities of its regulation. Key words: surgical trauma, infection, immune response, sirs, CArs