Fig. 2

24-h cortisol profile of 2-year-old female undergoing ventricular septal defect. Abbreviations: KTS: knife to the skin, start of operation; CPB time is represented in a red shaded area. KOS – knife of skin time – end of the operation. In dotted green lines are illustrated the serum cortisol levels taken at the reference time points (seven). In the purple dotted line, the ACTH serum concentration taken at the reference time points (seven) is illustrated. On the right Y-axis, the serum cortisol/ACTH concentration is depicted. The blue, line denotes the tissue cortisol and the red line the tissue cortisone levels taken every 20 min using microdialysis