Fever After CABG Linked to Cognitive Dysfunction
Cognitive dysfunction after CABG is a common occurrence. Now, Duke University Medical Center researchers have linked this phenomenon with the degree of hyperthermia patients experience immediately after surgery.
Writing in the February issue of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, Dr. Hilary P. Grocott and colleagues from Durham, North Carolina, report on 300 patients who underwent CABG. The patients had their temperature recorded hourly during the 24-hour period after surgery.
Before undergoing CABG, the patients took standardized tests, which were repeated 6 weeks after surgery. “We looked at the relationship between postoperative fever and cognitive outcome 6 weeks after surgery, Dr. Grocott told Reuters Health.
Maximum temperatures during the 24 hours after CABG ranged from 37.2º C to 39.3º C. There was no association with cognitive impairment and temperatures less than 37º C (p = 0.45).
However, for patients with temperatures above 37º C, the higher the temperature during the immediate postoperative period, the greater the amount of cognitive dysfunction (p = 0.05), Dr. Grocott said.
“We have established a temporal association between fever after cardiac surgery and cognitive outcome,” Dr. Grocott said. “What we do not know is whether this is a temporal or causal association.”
Dr. Grocott’s team is planning a follow-up study to determine if intervening to prevent postoperative fever influences cognitive outcome.
Stroke 2002;33:000-000.
