Dobutamine-Induced Fever

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

To report a case of dobutamine-induced fever.

PATIENT:

A 71-year-old woman with congestive heart failure who developed a fever after receiving dobutamine during two separate hospital admissions.

RESULTS:

Other possible causes of the fever during the first admission included relapse of staphylococcal sepsis and drug fever from vancomycin or metoclopramide. However, rechallenge with dobutamine on a subsequent admission demonstrated a highly probable relationship between dobutamine and fever.

CONCLUSIONS:

A strong temporal relationship between dobutamine and fever was noted during the patient's second admission and the case was not complicated by other new medications. No underlying infectious or noninfectious cause of the fever was found. Therefore, when patients receiving dobutamine become febrile, dobutamine should be considered as a possible cause.