Abstract:

The immune response is an essential network of cells, tissues, and organs that work together to provide a defence mechanism for the host organism. The primary targets of the immune system are microbes, parasites, and fungi that can cause infections. However, the system may become defective, disorganized or overactive, reacting to host tissues and causing disorders such as arthritis, allergic reactions and implicated in other conditions such as diabetes melittus[16] among others, probably due to the recently identified Th 17. With such vital role, a mechanism of modulating the action of the system is essential.

The immune system is composed of two arms that work closely together, the innate immune system being more active early in an immune response while the adaptive immunity becomes progressively dominant over time.

Current medications used to modulate the immune system mainly exploit the mechanism of action of the immune system, blocking or enhancing some essential steps in the immune response cascade to provide their actions.

In the critically ill patient, the role of the immune system becomes even more evident as various conditions may come into play simultaneously, hence the essence of the current study.

During the review of the article, ‘Immunomodulation in the critically ill’ a publication of the British Journal of Anaesthesia, the reviewer will provide a summary of the article, then analyse the structure followed by a critique of the work. This will be followed by an analysis of the objectivity and stability of the article. The review will also analyse the tables presented in the article. Recent advances related to the topic will also be examined followed by a conclusion of the article review.

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