Malignant hyperthermia in an office surgery suite: a case report

Malignant hyperthermia is a threat to the life of the surgical patient. It is a pharmacogenic disease that is brought on by contact with certain drugs and is manifest by a hypermetabolic crisis with tachycardia, ventricular ectopy, metabolic acidosis, and a rapid rise in body temperature. Muscle rigidity may or may not be present. Thanks to a reliable porcine animal model of malignant hyperthermia, dantrolene sodium has been found to be effective in the prevention and treatment of malignant hyperthermia. In this article a case report of malignant hyperthermia occurring in an office surgery suite is presented. The patient was 37 years old and underwent a routine septorhinoplasty under general anesthesia. The operation was complicated by ventricular ectopy, rapid rise in body temperature, and muscle rigidity at the end of the case. The malignant hyperthermia aborted spontaneously after 30 minutes; dantrolene was not given.