A Perioperative Genomic Approach to Investigate the Inflammatory-Immune Response to Surgical Injury

“Perioperative genomics” is an emerging field of research in perioperative medicine. The body of work contained in this thesis describes the utilisation of analyses that explore the human genome to better understand the nature of the inflammatory and immune responses to surgical injury. It provides greater insight into how potentially harmful levels of inflammation affect recovery after surgery. Several analyses, and a review are presented that better define the nature and impact of different levels of inflammation on recovery after major surgery. The work has demonstrated the value of integrating genomic research into clinical trials in perioperative medicine.