THE CORRELATION OF INFLAMMATORY CYTOKINES LEVELS WITH THE SEVERITY OF STROKE

Introduction. Stroke is a frequent cause of death and long-term disability worldwide. Proinflammatory cytokines play a key role in the progression of the irreversible ischemic lesions. The presence of anti-inflammatory mediators may prevent secondary ischemic injury. Objective. This study investigated the correlation between the level of inflammatory cytokines, stroke subtype and stroke severity using the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale of the patients admitted to the Institute of Emergency Medicine, Neurology Department, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova, and diagnosed with an ischemic stroke. Methods: Blood were collected from the patients with ischemic stroke (n = 75) to determine inflammatory cytokines levels, sex and age-matched healthy individuals (n = 39) served as control. All patients had cranial computerized tomography scan in the first 24 hours. The neurological evaluation was made with the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) in the acute stage. Results: The interleukine-1, interleukine-6, interleukine10 and tumor necrosis factor- levels in the 1st and the 7th day of patients hospitalization was higher significantly in comparison with the control group. There has been established the correlation between the inflammatory cytokines values and NIHSS score. It can be stated that the most powerful relationship was with interleukine-1 (r = 0,68).Conclusion: Increased inflammatory cytokines concentrations are present in early stroke period and are associated with the degree of neurological deficit. Measurement of inflammatory mediators may be useful for the follow-up of clinical outcome after ischemic stroke.