Detection of the serum endothelin content in patients with acute lung injury and its value of severity evaluation

ObjectiveTo observe the correlation of serum endothelin content in patients with acute radiation lung injury and with the degree of inflammatory reaction and the lung functional level.Methods68 Patients with non-small cell lung cancer who received the radiotherapy in treatment from May 2013 to October 2015 in our hospital were selected as the object of study. 25 patients who had acute radiation induced lung injury within 24 months of the radiotherapy were rolled in the radiation induced lung injury group (RILI group), and the rest of 43 without acute lung injury were rolled in the negative control group (NC group). The contents of endothelin, tumor necrosis factor α, interleukin-1β, interleukin-6 in serum and the partial pressure of oxygen in artery, partial pressure of carbon dioxide in artery, vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in one second, maximal ventilatory volume, and diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide were tested.ResultsThe content of serum endothelin of the patients in the RILI group [(69.3 ± 7.5) pg/mL] were all obviously higher than that of the NC group [(24.1 ± 2.9) pg/mL]; the content of the serum tumor necrosis factor α [(49.6 ± 5.1) ng/mL vs. (22.7 ± 3.1) ng/mL], interleukin-1β [(29.4 ± 3.3) ng/mL vs. (15.7 ± 1.8) ng/mL], interleukin-6 [(163.4 ± 20.3) pg/mL vs. (89.4 ± 10.2) pg/mL] and the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in artery [(49.2 ± 5.2) mmHg vs. (40.3 ± 4.8) mmHg] were all obviously higher than that of the NC group, which were positively correlated with the serum endothelin content. But the partial pressure of oxygen in artery [(68.4 ± 7.8) mmHg vs. (87.3 ± 9.5) mmHg], vital capacity [(1 203.4 ± 136.5) mL vs. (2 034.8 ± 238.5) mL], forced expiratory volume in one second [(38.4 ± 4.1)% vs. (58.3 ± 6.2)%], maximum minute ventilation [(33.7 ± 3.8) L/min vs. (66.1 ± 7.9) L/min] and diffusing capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide [(79.3 ± 8.9)% vs. (86.7 ± 9.4)%)] were obviously lower than that of the NC group, which were negatively correlated with the serum endothelin content.ConclusionThe elevated content of the endothelin in the serum of patients with acute radiation induced lung injury could assess the degree of inflammatory reaction and the lung functional level.