MALIGNANT hyperthermia (MH) is an inherited human skeletal muscle disorder and is one
of the main causes of death due to anaesthesia1. The reported incidence of MH varies from
1 in 12,000 in children to 1 in 40,000 in adults2, 3. MH is triggered in susceptible people by
all commonly used inhalational anaesthetics; it is characterized by a profoundly accelerated
muscle metabolism, contractures, hyperthermia and tachycardia1, 4, 5. Susceptibility to MH
(MHS) is predicted by contracture tests on muscle tissue obtained by biopsy6, 7. An almost …

Malignant hyperthermia (MH) is an inherited human skeletal muscle disorder of unknown
aetiology and is one of the major causes of death due to anaesthesia. MH is triggered in
susceptible people by a variety of commonly used inhalation anaesthetics such as
halothane. It is characterized by a profoundly accelerated muscle metabolism, contractures,
hyperthermia and tachycardia. The mortality rate is high unless the MH episode is treated
promptly with the muscle relaxant dantrolene [11. Susceptibility to MH is predicted by …