Should the temperature chart influence management in cardiac operations? Result of a prospective study in 314 patients.

The body temperature is measured routinely and carefully charted in our own and presumably all units. Pyrexia is normal after bypass and is discounted on the basis of clinical experience in the first few days. If this pyrexia persists, a search for infection may be instigated and discharge from the hospital may be delayed. A clinical trial of antibiotic prophylaxis provided the opportunity to collect and collate 6-hourly temperature observations for 314 patients for 1 week after operation. The length of bypass and the presence of lower respiratory tract infection were positively correlated with the duration of postoperative fever. However, neither surgical sepsis nor urinary tract infection had any consistent effect on the duration or magnitude of postoperative fever in the first week.