Characterizing Alterations in Cortisol Secretion During Cardiac Surgery

Vidya Raju, Ben Gibbison, Elizabeth B. Klerman, Rose T. Faghih

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Cortisol is a neuroendocrine hormone of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis secreted from adrenal glands in response to stimulation by adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) from the anterior pituitary and corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) from the hypothalamus. Cortisol has multiple functionalities in maintaining bodily homeostasis - including anti-inflammatory influences - through its diurnal secretion pattern (which has been studied extensively); its secretion is also increased in response to major traumatic events such as surgery. Due to the adverse health consequences of an abnormal immune response, it is crucial to understand the effect of cortisol in modulating inflammation. To address this physiological issue, we characterize the secretion of cortisol using a high temporal resolution dataset of ten patients undergoing coronary arterial bypass grafting (CABG) surgery, in comparison with a control group not undergoing surgery. We find that cortisol exhibits different pulsatile dynamics in those undergoing cardiac surgery compared to the control subjects. We also summarize the causality of cortisol's relationship with different cytokines (which are one type of inflammatory markers) by performing Granger causality analysis.Clinical relevance - This work documents time-varying patterns of the HPA axis hormone cortisol in the inflammatory response to cardiac surgery and may eventually help improve patients' prognosis post-surgery (or in other conditions) by enabling early detection of an abnormal cortisol or inflammatory response and enabling patient specific remedial interventions.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication2023 45th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Conference, EMBC 2023 - Proceedings
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
ISBN (Electronic)9798350324471
DOIs
StatePublished - 2023
Event45th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Conference, EMBC 2023 - Sydney, Australia
Duration: Jul 24 2023Jul 27 2023

Publication series

NameProceedings of the Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBS
ISSN (Print)1557-170X

Conference

Conference45th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Conference, EMBC 2023
Country/TerritoryAustralia
CitySydney
Period7/24/237/27/23

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Signal Processing
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
  • Health Informatics

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