Perioperative temperature elevation: not all hyperthermia is malignant hyperthermia

The objective of this review is to assist the readers, anesthesiologists, intensivists, and emergency physicians in making a more accurate diagnosis of perioperative fever or hyperthermia and subsequently choose the proper course of treatment.

To identify the many sources of perioperative fever and after a more accurate differential diagnosis, select appropriate treatment options. Most anesthesiologists, intensivists, and emergency physicians are not familiar with an expansive differential of perioperative fever. This article attempts to expose these physicians to that differential diagnosis.

Much of the medical literature has anecdotal reports, small case series, or limited reviews of the possible sources of hyperthermia or fever. This is especially true of the anesthesia literature.

A literature search was performed which identified many possible common and uncommon sources of fever. Some of these sources are quite relevant to the anesthesiologist. Other sources had potential relevance in obscure cases.