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Sir,

With great interest we read the article [ 1 ].

Since pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is a leading topic of our own research, we feel that we might add some comments on the authors’ findings. It was their declaration that PTX3 levels increase dramatically after surgery that incited us to open this discussion. On the basis of our current know- ledge, we must strongly argue against this unfounded contention. While there is no doubt that plasma concentrations of PTX3 do increase in sepsis and in endotoxic shock, just the same as they do after myocardial infarction, to the best of our knowledge no one has up till now established PTX3 levels after surgery. The authors did not address this issue in their study. The disputable contention of theirs has been extracted from a surgical study performed by Hampel and co-workers [ 2 ].

Nevertheless , we must insist that ‘living kidney donation’ represents a tiny and an altogether specific fraction among surgical patients. This specificity, which resides in explanting one kidney from a healthy organ donor, has most probably elicited the increase of PTX3 levels in the quoted study. Moreover, this PTX3 elevation went hand in hand with increase of plasma CRP (C-reactive protein) levels, which also is an unusual finding [ 3–5 ]. Of note, the questionable declaration about PTX3 rising dramatically after surgery has been borrowed from a study that included all in all six patients.

Issue Section:
Letter and Reply
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