Pre-operative plasma levels of hsCRP (0.35 ± 0.17 vs 0.50 ± 0.32 mg/l) showed a trend towards significance (p = 0.069). Although POD 1 hsCRP levels (10.0 ± 2.0 vs 17.8 ± 3.9 mg/l) did not differ (p = 0.405) between the groups, a decrease in POD 5 hsCRP levels in group T (8.6 ± 2.9 vs 10.9 ± 3.2 mg/l) was statistically significant between the groups (p = 0.024) (Table 4).