Pyrexia is one of the most common complications in myelopathic patients. This study was designed to investigate the incidence and characteristics of fever in patients who suffered myelopathy stemming from traumatic or nontraumatic causes and to find the occurrence of the fever especially caused by urinary tract infection in the management of the myelopathic bladder. 81% among the 86 myelopathic patients who had admitted in Seoul National University Hospital ultimately experienced febrile episodes. There was no difference in the incidence of pyrexia between the traumatic and the nontraumatic spinal cord injury patients. The neurologic level of the cord lesion did not affect the incidence of pyrexia. 78% of the fever occurred within the first 30 days of the hospital stay. Urinary tract infection and pneumonia manifested themselves as high fever, while thermoregulatory dysfuction that prevailed in quadriplegia above T6 level showed mild fever. The most frequent causes were UTI, atelectasis, thermoregulatory dysfunction, decubitus ulcer. The pyrexia caused by UTI was more common in the foley indwelling group and suprapubic cystostomy group than in clean intermittent catheterization group and catheter free voiding group.
