Fever and Acute Stroke - A Bad Combination

Though many people don't know it, the brain is fairly resilient and able to bounce back after a stroke. I have seen people recover relatively well from extensive strokes and even other forms of severe brain damage. And multiple factors can even speed recovery, including adequate rehabilitation, nutrition, and prompt treatments. However, in-hospital complications after stroke can also slow down and sometimes even halt its recovery.

Some of these factors include, infections, respiratory problems, and swallowing difficulties. For a long time it has also been suspected that fever can have a negative impact on recovery, but studies are just beginning to confirm this hypothesis.

This is the case with a recent study by the Virtual International Stroke Trial Archive (VISTA) investigators, who compared the outcomes of ischemic stroke patients who were affected by high body tempertures in the acute period of their stroke.

The study, found that high body temperatures (i.e., hyperthermia) higher than 37.2 degrees celcius predicted a poor outcome. It mattered when in the first week the high temperatures occurred with later, rather than earlier leading to a worse the outcome.

The results suggest that neurologists and other doctors treating acute stroke patients in the hospital should implement aggressive measures to suppress fevers and to cool down the body temperature in patients in the first week after stroke.