Body temperature correlates with functional outcome and the lesion size of cerebral infarction.
BACKGROUND
Experimental studies have demonstrated that mild hyperthermia exacerbates ischemia-induced neuronal injury.


METHODS
We examined the relationship between body temperature and functional outcome in 183 patients suffering from cerebral infarction, and admitted within 24 h from the onset of stroke. Patients' functional capacities in daily life were evaluated by Rankin's score before the attack (RS0), on the day of admission (RS1), and 3 months after the onset of stroke (RS90).


RESULTS
RS90 showed an independent correlation with RS0, RS1, age, infarct size and maximum body temperature recorded within the first 7 days from the onset of stroke by multivariate analysis. History of previous cerebrovascular accidents, atrial fibrillation, hemorrhagic transformation, infection, and a hypothalamic lesion showed significant associations with RS90 by the Mann-Whitney U-test, but not by multivariate analysis. Infarct size correlated with body temperature, atrial fibrillation, and hemorrhagic transformation.


CONCLUSIONS
Body temperature correlated well with both functional outcome and infarct size in patients with an acute cerebral infarction.
Fukuda
H
H
Department of Neurology, Masuda Red Cross Hospital, Shimane, Japan.
Kitani
M
M
Takahashi
K
K
D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001831:Body Temperature; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome