What is fever after surgery?
Fever after surgery, also called post-operative fever, refers to an increase in body temperature above 38°C between the day of surgery and the tenth post-operative day. A slight temperature increase of 38 – 38.5°C the first three days after the operation is harmless and is based on the so-called post-aggression metabolism. The post-aggression metabolism occurs in the body as a result of tissue damage.
Surgery is often accompanied by tissue damage and loss of fluid. This results in hormone releases that cause clinical symptoms such as fever, increased breathing and heartbeat or fatigue. After a major trauma, for example after extensive surgery, fever can occur for one to two days.
If, on the other hand, the body temperature is significantly elevated in the days following the operation, clarification is required. Fever can be an indication of infection. The cause may be a wound infection or a urinary tract infection, for example.
Possible causes of fever
- Indwelling venous cannula infection
- Urinary tract infection
- Wound infection
- Respiratory tract infection
- Pneumonia
- Blood poisoning (sepsis)
- Thrombosis/pulmonary embolism
- Cholecystitis
- Colitis
- Intraabdominal abscess
- Anastomosis Insufficiency
Postoperative fever can be a sign of wound infection. By an infected wound I mean the entry of microorganisms such as bacteria into the wound. Most often it is bacteria that can colonize the wound.
Rarely do viruses, fungi or parasites cause a wound infection. The germs cause an inflammation in the wound. An infected wound must be opened and cleaned.
A thrombosis causes a blood clot (thrombus) to form in a blood vessel or in the heart. Thromboses often develop in the deep veins of the legs. Thromboses are dangerous because the blood clot can become loose and be transported to other organs.
Mild fever is a common symptom of deep leg vein thrombosis. An embolism occurs when a blood clot is washed away with the blood and reaches distant vascular segments. A pulmonary embolism is caused by the obstruction of a pulmonary vessel. Extensive surgery, bone fractures and procedures such as hip TEP (hip joint endoprosthesis) have an increased risk of developing pulmonary embolism.
