Efficacy of Bromocriptine For Fever Reduction in Acute Neurologic Injury

In patients with acute neurologic injury such as subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), traumatic brain injury (TBI), subdural hematoma (SDH), and ischemic stroke, fever has been found to be an independent predictor of poor outcome including increased mortality rates, longer hospital stays, depressed level of consciousness, and worse functional outcomes. Our current antipyretic therapy of acetaminophen and sometimes nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are not very effective and external cooling requires sedatives and other medications to prevent shivering and pain. Bromocriptine is a dopamine D2 receptor agonist which acts at the hypothalamus, a specific area of the brain that regulates body temperature. Fevers of both central and infectious etiologies must be regulated through the hypothalamus and we have evidence that bromocriptine has an antipyretic effect at the hypothalamus; thus, we hypothesize that bromocriptine could be used safely and more broadly to treat all fevers in the acute setting and not just refractory central fevers in this patient population. Here, we propose to evaluate the acute antipyretic effects of bromocriptine in this critically-ill population through a pilot, open label, blinded endpoint, randomized controlled trial. In both enrolling centers, University of California, San Francisco Medical Center Parnassus (UCSF) and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, every patient who is admitted to the neurointensive care unit for an anticipated stay of greater than 48 hours with a diagnosis of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), traumatic brain injury (TBI), subdural hematoma (SDH), and ischemic stroke will be screened and consented. If they have a temperature reading ≥ 38.3 ºC, the investigational pharmacy will randomize them to the control arm of acetaminophen or the intervention arm of acetaminophen and bromocriptine for 48 hours. We will continuously measure their temperature and other vitals data. Retrospectively, we will review imaging and labs ordered to work up infectious etiologies of fever. The ICU nurse will do a 5 minute assessment every shift during the 48 hour study period for side effects. The temperature data will be analyzed between the two study arms.