Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
2772740 | Trends in Anaesthesia and Critical Care | 2012 | 6 Pages |
SummaryMalignant hyperthermia (MH) is an autosomal dominant skeletal muscle disorder, associated with life threatening skeletal muscle hypermetabolism upon exposure to triggering agents, i.e. volatile anesthetics or succinylcholine. While mortality of a MH reaction used to be high, both preventive diagnostic measures and standardized treatment protocols, have led to a sharp decline of fatal MH events.Here, several established diagnostic measures are discussed, such as the clinical grading score, in-vitro caffeine/halothane contracture testing as well as genetic testing. Further, new tools like the MHApp are presented, which could prove helpful in the event of a suspected MH crisis for both the diagnostic process and the subsequent clinical action plan.