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Hyperthermia—a prospective evaluation of a possibleteratogenic agent in man

1979; Elsevier BV; Volume: 95; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0022-3476(79)80092-x

1097-6833

Sterling K. Clarren, DavidW. Smith, Mary Ann Sedgwick Harvey, R. H. T. Ward, Ntinos C. Myrianthopoulos,

Sexual Differentiation and Disorders

HYPERTHERMIA has been shown to be a teratogenic agent that Can principally alter central nervous system development in many animals, 1-7 although in primates the evidence is inconclusive, s-l~ The teratogenic properties of increased temperature have been more difficult to evaluate in human beings because fever is most commonly caused by infectious illness: When a human gestation is ~o~tplicated by febrile illness and an abnormal infant is subsequently born, it has not been clear whether the infectious agent, toxins, drugs, fever, or other factors were responsible for the malformation problem. TWO recent reports support hyperth'ermia as a teratogenic agent in man. Smith et a111 reported finding patterns of malformation, including defects of brain similar to those produced in the hyperthermia-animal models, among Children whose mothers retrospectively reported h igh fevers in early gestation. The patterns of malformation tended to relate to the timing of the hyperthei'mia. An anencephalic infant Was bor n following a reported high fever around the time of anterior neural groove closure. This observation ledto a second study in which it was found that 11% of 63 women bearing an anencephalic infant reported a hyperthermic event around the time of neural groove closureY In both of these studies the infectious agents associated with fever were diverse and, in some cases, the presumed hyperthermia had been induced by prolonged sauna bathing rather than infection. The varied etiologies of the hyperthermia gave further credence to the fever as the Cause of the similar malformations.