An approach to the management of fever of unknown origin in the setting of acute spinal cord injury.

Introduction: Discovering the source of a patient's fever, in the absence of clinical localizing signs, can be a formidable undertaking. Without a clear symptom pattern to narrow the focus of a diagnostic workup, this task can require numerous noninvasive and invasive procedures, imaging studies, and laboratory tests to arrive at a conclusion. Identifying the source of a patient's fever in the setting of an acute spinal cord injury can present a unique challenge because this population is at risk for many different conditions that can cause fever, some of which are rarely seen in the general population.