Abstract

Background: Fever or pyrexia is a disorder of body’s thermoregulation. Fever has been reported in 40% of patients after major surgery which may arise from either infectious or non-infectious causes. It may be an early presentation of a potentially fatal problem, or part of a more benign process, such as atelactasis or drug fever, infectious and non infectious causes.  This study is based on the early evaluation of pyrexia of a post operative patient, identifying the cause reducing the complications

Aim and Objectives: To evaluate causes of postoperative pyrexia within 48 hours of elective surgery in a post operative surgical ward

Methods: This is a descriptive prospective study of 100 cases with operative pyrexia in post operative wards of Rajah Muthiah Medical College from 2018 to 2020. Elective surgical patients who had temperature of 38 C or more within 48 hrs was analyzed Causes of postoperative fever evaluated on the basis of history, clinical examination and with the aid of investigations. The data supporting this study includes kind of surgery performed, clinical symptoms & signs and specific investigations during postoperative period.

Results:  Most common cause of fever within 48 hours was atelactasis in 55%. Other causes were Thirty six percent patients were diagnosed as cases of unexplained fever as clinical findings and investigations including chest radiographs did not show any abnormality. Clinical examination of 03 cases showed pain, redness and swelling at cannula site. On clinical correlation they were diagnosed as case of phlebitis. Urinary tract infection occurred in six patients.

Conclusion: In this study non infectious causes shows more incidence of post operative pyrexia. In this study Atlectasis is the most common cause within 48 hrs of post operative pyrexia, further studies have to done to rule out more causes and for more time period with more number of cases.

Keywords: Post-operative, fever, pyrexia, atelactasis.