Neurosurgery
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Perioperative fever and outcome in surgical patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage.
We examined the incidence of perioperative fever and its relationship to outcome among patients enrolled in the Intraoperative Hypothermia for Aneurysm Surgery Trial. ⋯ These findings suggest that fever is associated with worsened outcome in surgical subarachnoid hemorrhage patients, although, because the association between fever and the primary outcome measure for the trial is dependent on the covariates used in the analysis (particularly operative events and delayed ischemic neurological deficits), we cannot rule out the possibility that fever is a marker for other events. Only a formal trial of fever treatment or prevention can address this issue.