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An approach to the management of fever of unknown origin in the setting of acute spinal cord injury
INTRODUCTION: Discovering the source of a patient’s fever, in the absence of clinical localizing signs, can be a formidable undertaking. Without a clear symptom pattern to narrow the focus of a diagnostic workup, this task can require numerous noninvasive and invasive procedures, imaging studies, an...
Autores principales: | , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Nature Publishing Group UK
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7952824/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33712553 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41394-021-00385-7 |
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author | Connolly, Brian R. Harden, Jeannie K. |
author_facet | Connolly, Brian R. Harden, Jeannie K. |
author_sort | Connolly, Brian R. |
collection | PubMed |
description | INTRODUCTION: Discovering the source of a patient’s fever, in the absence of clinical localizing signs, can be a formidable undertaking. Without a clear symptom pattern to narrow the focus of a diagnostic workup, this task can require numerous noninvasive and invasive procedures, imaging studies, and laboratory tests to arrive at a conclusion. Identifying the source of a patient’s fever in the setting of an acute spinal cord injury can present a unique challenge because this population is at risk for many different conditions that can cause fever, some of which are rarely seen in the general population. CASE PRESENTATION: This case report describes a unique case and diagnostic workup of fever of unknown origin in a 51-year-old male with multiple medical comorbidities who presented to an inpatient rehabilitation service following an acute traumatic cervical spinal cord injury. Ultimately, it was determined that the patient had several different factors that were causing him to have intermittent fevers over a 5-week period. DISCUSSION: This case demonstrates the importance of obtaining serial medical histories and physical examinations during the investigation for fever of unknown origin. It also supports why additional workup of a patient’s fever may need to be considered even after a potential source is found. Finally, it demonstrates the need for increased awareness of quadriplegic fever so that this condition can be more effectively recognized, prevented, and managed in the future. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7952824 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | Nature Publishing Group UK |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-79528242021-03-12 An approach to the management of fever of unknown origin in the setting of acute spinal cord injury Connolly, Brian R. Harden, Jeannie K. Spinal Cord Ser Cases Case Report INTRODUCTION: Discovering the source of a patient’s fever, in the absence of clinical localizing signs, can be a formidable undertaking. Without a clear symptom pattern to narrow the focus of a diagnostic workup, this task can require numerous noninvasive and invasive procedures, imaging studies, and laboratory tests to arrive at a conclusion. Identifying the source of a patient’s fever in the setting of an acute spinal cord injury can present a unique challenge because this population is at risk for many different conditions that can cause fever, some of which are rarely seen in the general population. CASE PRESENTATION: This case report describes a unique case and diagnostic workup of fever of unknown origin in a 51-year-old male with multiple medical comorbidities who presented to an inpatient rehabilitation service following an acute traumatic cervical spinal cord injury. Ultimately, it was determined that the patient had several different factors that were causing him to have intermittent fevers over a 5-week period. DISCUSSION: This case demonstrates the importance of obtaining serial medical histories and physical examinations during the investigation for fever of unknown origin. It also supports why additional workup of a patient’s fever may need to be considered even after a potential source is found. Finally, it demonstrates the need for increased awareness of quadriplegic fever so that this condition can be more effectively recognized, prevented, and managed in the future. Nature Publishing Group UK 2021-03-12 /pmc/articles/PMC7952824/ /pubmed/33712553 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41394-021-00385-7 Text en © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to International Spinal Cord Society 2021 |
spellingShingle | Case Report Connolly, Brian R. Harden, Jeannie K. An approach to the management of fever of unknown origin in the setting of acute spinal cord injury |
title | An approach to the management of fever of unknown origin in the setting of acute spinal cord injury |
title_full | An approach to the management of fever of unknown origin in the setting of acute spinal cord injury |
title_fullStr | An approach to the management of fever of unknown origin in the setting of acute spinal cord injury |
title_full_unstemmed | An approach to the management of fever of unknown origin in the setting of acute spinal cord injury |
title_short | An approach to the management of fever of unknown origin in the setting of acute spinal cord injury |
title_sort | approach to the management of fever of unknown origin in the setting of acute spinal cord injury |
topic | Case Report |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7952824/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33712553 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41394-021-00385-7 |
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