Review article Malignant hyperthermia: a review for the cardiac

Malignant hyperthermia is an inherited skeletal muscle disorder. A malignant hyperthermia crisis is triggered by volatile anaesthetics and many drugs and has an extremely high mortality rate when not treated. This paper describes the aetiology, clinical manifestations and treatment of this disease and outlines the correct procedure for patients who are susceptible to a malignant hyperthermic crisis. Epidemiology Malignant hyperthermia (MH) is a genetically transmitted disease of the skeletal muscular system characterized by an increase in muscle metabolism in response to certain drugs and anaesthetic agents- it may also occur as a response to stress. The disorder has been found to occur in both humans and pigs. 1 MH is rare in humans below the age of thre