postoperative fever

Etiology

• atelectasis
• urinary tract infection
• wound infection
• pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis
• drug reaction
• transfusion reaction
• surgical stress response*

* low grade fever in 1st 12-24 hours

Pathology

• mediated by cytokines, tumor necrosis factor, IFN-gamma release following surgical stress

Clinical manifestations

• surgical stress
  • median time to peak temperature is 11 hours
  • 1/2 of patients have temperatures exceeding 38C (100.4 F)
  • most surgical stress fevers resolve in several hours
  • fevers from surgery for severe trauma may last for days

More general terms

• postoperative complication
• fever