[Malignant hyperthermia in a child with acute lymphatic leukemia]

A 5-year-old boy with acute lymphatic leukemia in remission developed signs of malignant hyperthermia (MH) during general anesthesia for removal of a central venous access port. The anesthetic procedure for implantation of the port 17 months before had been uneventful despite use of the same triggering agents, halothane and succinylcholine. Meanwhile, the patient had received chemotherapy (COALL-03-85). The first sign of MH was masseter spasm following succinylcholine; then tachycardia, acidosis, myoglobinuria, and CPK elevation (8953 IU) appeared. There was only moderate temperature elevation to 37.8 degree C. Rapid improvement and complete recovery occurred after dantrolene i.v. The patient's father was found to have undiagnosed muscle pain and an elevated CPK level. An in vitro contracture test with halothane and caffeine revealed susceptibility to MH and supported the patient's diagnosis and genetic predisposition. Referring to several other cases in the literature concerning MH in patients with lymphomas and leukemias, a possible correlation between the two diseases is discussed. As the MH crisis in our patient was most probably genetic in origin, a common acquired cause such as a viral infection seems less probable. We do not believe the chemotherapy our patient received between the two anesthetics was the cause since about one-half of the patients in the literature had not had chemotherapeutic pretreatment at the time of the MH crisis. We believe that a common genetic predisposition is the most likely link between the two diseases. In any case, patients with leukemias and lymphomas should be monitored very carefully for symptoms of MH.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)