The cortisol stress response induced by surgery: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Alessandro PreteQi YanKhaled Al-TarrahHalis Kaan AkturkLarry J ProkopFares AlahdabMark A FosterJanet M LordNiki KaravitakiJohn A WassMohammad H MuradWiebke ArltIrina BancosPublished in: Clinical endocrinology (2018)
The peri-operative cortisol stress response is dynamic and influenced by patient-specific, surgical and anaesthetic features. However, the available evidence is derived from highly heterogeneous studies, with only two of 71 studies measuring cortisol by mass spectrometry, which currently prevents a precise and reproducible definition of this response.