• Two patients had prolonged unexplained fever along with [ill]tiple negative blood cultures after cardiac valve replace[ill]ent surgery. Following the administration of corticosteroids [ill] presumed postpericardiotomy syndrome, both patients [ill]proved symptomatically and defervesced, only to have [ill]sitive blood cultures for Staphylococcus epidermidis [ill]ortly thereafter. The theoretical and practical risks of the [ill]piric use of anti-inflammatory agents for unexplained post[ill]erative fever are reviewed. "Culture-negative" prosthetic [ill]vular infection due to prior antibiotic prophylaxis or therapy [ill]st be strongly considered in the evaluation of such unex[ill]ined fever.
(Arch Intern Med 1984;144:2083-2084)