A Case of A girl whose Responses to Kampo Medicines Clued Making a Diagnosis of Psychogenic Fever

• Published in: Kampo Medicine Vol. 75; no. 1; pp. 47 - 52
• Main Authors: UEDA, Koso, ITO, Mari, TAKAGI, Kazuko, SUGIYAMA, Takashi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: The Japan Society for Oriental Medicine 2024
• Subjects: kamikihito; kamishoyosan; psychogenic fever; yokukansan
• ISSN: 0287-4857; 1882-756X
• DOI: 10.3937/kampomed.75.47

The case is a 6-year-0-month-old girl. She was referred to our department at the age of 5 years and 10 months due to persistent fever over 38.0 ℃. Since blood tests and contrast-enhanced computed tomography showed no abnormalities and there was no response to antipyretics, psychogenic fever was suspected, but psychological factors were unclear. She had lived in father’s home country until the age of 4 years and 11 months (father is foreign national/mother is Japanese), had plans to return to father’s home country. Her height was 117.5 cm, weight 18.7 kg, body temperature 37.4 ℃, and her cardiopulmonary findings were normal. She tried five types of Kampo preparations sequentially. Her body temperature less frequently exceeded 38.0 ℃ with kamishoyosan and yokukansan, and never exceeded 38.0 ℃ with kamikihito. Suspecting that family relationships and vague insecurities were behind her symptoms, it was found that she was stressed about plans to return to father’s home country, leading to the diagnosis of psychogenic fever. When investigating the etiology behind the symptoms, it is useful to refer to the responsiveness to Kampo medicines.