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In 1981, the Malignant Hyperthermia Association of the United States (MHAUS) hotline was established to provide telephone support to clinical teams treating patients with suspected malignant hyperthermia. The hotline became active in 1982 and since that time MHAUS has provided continuous access to board-certified anesthesiologists to assist ...
The primary treatment strategy is to eliminate or discontinue the offensive agent. Supportive therapy, such as ice packs, may be provided to get the body temperature within physiologic range. In severe cases, when the fever is high enough (generally at or above ~104°F or 40°C), aggressive cooling such as an ice bath and pharmacologic therapy ...
Succinylcholine may also trigger malignant hyperthermia in rare cases in patients who may be susceptible. In depolarizing the musculature, suxamethonium may trigger a transient release of large amounts of potassium from muscle fibers. This puts the patient at risk for life-threatening complications, such as hyperkalemia and cardiac arrhythmias.
The diagnosis is suggested on patients with a history of drug exposure to the most common inducing agents such as strong antidopaminergic medications. [6] [40] The differential diagnosis includes serotonin syndrome, [41] encephalitis, toxic encephalopathy, status epilepticus, heat stroke, catatonia and malignant hyperthermia.
Recreational drugs such as amphetamines [17] and cocaine, [18] PCP, dextromethorphan, LSD, and MDMA may cause hyperthermia. [2] Malignant hyperthermia is a rare reaction to common anesthetic agents (such as halothane) or the paralytic agent succinylcholine. Those who have this reaction, which is potentially fatal, have a genetic predisposition. [2]
Hyperthermia therapy (or hyperthermia, or thermotherapy) is a type of medical treatment in which body tissue is exposed to temperatures above body temperature, in the region of 40–45 °C (104–113 °F). Hyperthermia is usually applied as an adjuvant to radiotherapy or chemotherapy, to which it works as a sensitizer, in an effort to treat cancer.
Dantrolene was widely used in the management of spasticity [19] before its efficacy in treating malignant hyperthermia was discovered by South African anesthesiologist Gaisford Harrison and reported in a landmark 1975 article published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia. [20]
Serious side effects can include malignant hyperthermia or high blood potassium. [4] It should not be used in patients with a history of malignant hyperthermia in either themselves or their family members. [3] It is unknown if its use during pregnancy is safe for the fetus, but use during a cesarean section appears to be safe.