Surgical trauma is a well-known cause of systemic inflammatory response syndrome. Postoperative fever is usually attributed to this. In the postoperative period temperature above 38ºC (100.4ºF) is termed as fever. Most of the times it resolves spontaneously, but there are instances when postoperative fever points towards some serious underlying problem.
Differential diagnosis of postoperative fever includes infectious and noninfectious conditions that occur following surgery. Fever may arise due to a surgical site infection (SSI), or from other hospital-related conditions, including nosocomial pneumonia, urinary tract infection, drug fever, and deep vein thrombosis. The timing of fever after surgery is one of the most important factors to be considered in the differential diagnosis of postoperative fever. Immediate: Onset in the operating suite or within hours after surgery Acute: Onset…
