Table 1

Major syndromes and causes of hyperthermia due to toxicity

Major syndromes
Implicated drugs

Adrenergic fever
Phenethylamines such as amphetamine, methamphetamine, MDMA; cocaine and MAO inhibitors
Antidopaminergic fever (NMS)
Phenothiazines, butyrophenones; atypical neuroleptics such as olanzapine and clozapine; metoclopramide and promethazine; acute withdrawal of anti-Parkinsonian agents
Anticholinergic fever
Antispasmodics, antihistamines, anti-ulcer and anti-Parkinsonian drugs, neuroleptics or ingredients of plants (for example, belladonna alkaloids) and mushrooms
Serotonin syndrome
Drugs increasing serotonin-concentration in the CNS; combination of drugs (for example, MAO inhibitors and tricyclic antidepressants); other drugs, including dextrometorphan, meperidine, L-dopa, bromocriptine, tramadol, lithium and the MAO inhibitor linezolid
Uncoupling of oxidative phosphorylation
PCP and salicylates
Malignant hyperthermia
Volatile anesthetics and depolarizing muscle relaxants
Drug induced fever
Anticonvulsants, minocycline, antimicrobial agents, allopurinol, and heparin; virtually any drug capable of causing fever via hypersensitivity mechanism

CNS, central nervous system; MAO, monoamine oxidase; MDMA, 3,4-methylendioxymethamphetamine; NMS, neuroleptic malignant syndrome; PCP, pentachlorphenol.

Eyer and Zilker Critical Care 2007 11:236   doi:10.1186/cc6177